The mysterious 'other Petra' of Saudi Arabia - BBC REEL

The magnificent ancient city of Petra, located in modern day Jordan, is one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. But many people don't realise that Petra has a mysterious 'twin' in Saudi Arabia.

Hegra was once the second largest settlement in the ancient Nabataean kingdom – the largest being Petra itself. Its beautiful ancient architecture shows a unique mixture of Greco-Roman, North African and Middle-Eastern influence.

Video by Ana González and Frederick Bernas

#bbcreel #bbc #bbcnews

[alaiyer]

Oh my, this is exactly what the Qur’an says:
Verse 82 in Surat al-Hijr: They carved their homes, feeling secure. But the ˹mighty˺ blast overtook them in the morning.
They WERE erased, that’s why they’re kind of like forgotten. They were sent a Prophet named Salih from their creator to guide them, but they disobeyed that’s why when they disappeared the people around them knew well and spread this. But today people consider it ‘legend’ because it doesn’t fit their dictionaries. But this really happened.

[TahaWasiq]

Fun fact: These rock cut tombs are mentioned in the Quran, infact there is a whole chapter, surah al Hijr, named after the city of Hegra, and how it fell. See Quran chapter 15 verse 80 onwards. Thanks.

[alphaprince]

In the valley of Al-Hijr lived the tribe of Thamud. This valley is in modern-day northern Saudi Arabia. It is about 2 to 3 hours north of Madinah. These people were known for their excellent craftsmanship and architectural marvels. They were amongst the ancient Arab tribes. Also, they were a continuation of the civilization that inhabited the lands of Petra in Jordan as well.

[saibliss]

It's nice to see a historical narrator from the country itself. Love the accent and how he explains. Very nice documentary. Beautiful music but bit louder than ear can take. 👌💖

[shanel]

I visited back in 2010, stayed until sunset, it was a lovely site.

[anitat]

The story is great but not gonna lie, the music volume could be lower.

[bonk]

Hegra is mentioned in the Qur'an in surah Al Hijr it is a very interesting surah that shows about the ancient people of Hegra and how Allah punished them because of their behaviours

[ammaar]

This place is so underrated. 5 years ago, only my family visited for the whole day

[Abu_Hafs]

This is called Madain As Salih.
This is the place where the tribe of Thamud was destroyed when they disobeyed Allah.
Our beloved Prophet ﷺ, prohibited us from visiting this place and even forbid drinking water from it's wells.

[nspacemonkey]

I wonder what the landscape was like 2000years ago. I bet it was more fertile, like a Savannah with more wildlife. Otherwise why go to all the effort building structures in a wasteland?

[LearningwithLani]

Never had heard of Hegra until now, but the architecture is stunning 😍 Learned a lot from this video, especially from the local historian. Hope to visit one day!

[simontel]

This could easily become a site science fiction a land from another

[arcb]

WHY oh why, time and again, is loud music added to these videos on historic cultures and architecture? Obnoxiously loud and drowns out important narrative. Upgrade your production values BBC!

[johnnymcblaze]

One will never hear a historian say the word "probably" so much as when they try and pretend they know when these ancient cities were built.

[liamgross]

I remember long ago when the BBC set standards in production, now they can’t mix an audio track.

[BatCaveOz]

At 1:08 that rock formation look a lot like a skull. 💀

[kimjongwin]

Pretty awful on the music volume BBC, sort it out

[auraofautumnequinox]

Why you not put camera inside the cave?

[optimystic]

The Nabateans were from the northern Arabian peninsula who spoke an Ancient form of Arabic, but also spoke a form of Aramaic (Nabatean Aramaic) which was used mostly for trade and writing in the north. Aramaic became the lingua franca of the Levant and Mesopotamia, with many forms and dialects.

Famously, Aramaic is often associated Jesus Christ, being his native language. However, his dialect was from Galilee where he grew up, which is a form of Jewish Palestinian Aramaic.

Aramaic is still spoken today in the Levant such as Syria, and parts of Mesopotamia and Iran. They are categorised as Western and Eastern Aramaic, one being vastly different from the other.

[MuMu]

This is in Quran
Its name is Hegra?
There is a chapter in Quran named
AL-HIJR that mentions that its ppl used to carve out of the hills houses..sorry for the bad translation arabic is such a broad language to translate correctly..but yeah we muslims knew about this city it's not forgotten to us it's in our scripture