Mondo Knows Facts

Petra was built around a desert water system

The Nabataeans carved a capital into sandstone and channelled flash floods through it The Nabataean kingdom grew rich on incense and spice caravans passing through its capital, Petra, in what is now Jordan. From about the first century BCE its engineers cut cisterns, channels and terracotta pipes into the rock to capture winter storms. Rome absorbed the kingdom in 106 CE, and the city slowly emptied. It sits in Mondo's history collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

UNESCO World Heritage Centre

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Tags: petra, nabataeans, hydrology

Petra was built around a desert water system: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?
The Nabataeans carved a capital into sandstone and channelled flash floods through it. The figure is taken from UNESCO World Heritage Centre, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a history fact?
Yes. It sits on the History shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?
The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.