The TRAVELER'S JOURNAL: September twenty-sixth, in the lost capital of Nabiteah.

A thousand years before the birth of Christ, a great kingdom stretched across the Middle East, from the Sinai Peninsula, north through modern Jordan into Syria. Called Nabiteah, it occupied a strategic position along the silk and spice routes that ran from China to Rome. Its kings had a city carved into the sheer stone walls of what the Bible calls the Valley of Moses, a narrow, stunning gorge of red and white sandstone streaked with ribbons of yellow and purple.

The Nabitean kings named their capital Petra. In its heyday, the city had 30,000 inhabitants, but the kingdom and its capital gradually lost prominence after being annexed by the Roman Empire. Following a devastating earthquake in the year 551 A.D., Petra was abandoned. Covered by the desert's shifting sands, it lay completely forgotten by the world for 1000 years.

Just 100 miles southeast of Jerusalem, Petra has only recently become the focus of serious study and excavation. The movie "Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade" used one of Petra's magnificent tombs, the Khazneh, as a backdrop. A Byzantine church uncovered ten years ago has already yielded scores of ancient scrolls, but scholars claim they are only a hint of Petra's secrets. On-going excavations are revealing new discoveries every day.

Though well off the beaten path, Petra is an intriguing and poignant destination for adventurous travelers.

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