Madā’in Şāliḩ

Still in the AlUla area, we move from the Dadanite culture to the Nabataeans. Hegra is considered their 2nd city after Petra (see another post). Founded in the 1st century BCE, Hegra is about 400 years younger than Petra.
The 1st picture is a center of the city. It is considered a holy mountain. To the right, you can see what appears to be an opening. That is detailed in the 2nd picture. The large opening is a meeting space for the elites to meet, talk, be entertained, etc. The gap through the Rick is reminiscent of Petra. This leads through to an off limits holy space in the 3rd picture.
Like Petra, much of the monumental carving is for tombs. Pictures 4, 5 & 6 are all different tomb settings. Sometimes a large outcrop was used for a single tomb. Other times there are many carved around all sides of the rock. The last 2 pictures are inside a couple of the tombs.
The areas suspected of being where people lived are still unexcavated.Read more