Hegra

Rock writings

Recent archaeological work has revealed numerous rock writings and pictures not only on Mount Athleb, but also throughout central Arabia.^[32] They date between the sixth century BC and the fourth century AD and are labelled as being Thamudic, a name invented by nineteenth-century scholars for these large numbers of inscriptions which had not yet been properly studied.^[33]

Lihyan/Dedanite era

Archaeological traces of cave art on the sandstones and epigraphs (inscriptions), considered by experts to be Lihyanite script, on top of the Athleb Mountain,^[34] near Hegra (Madaʾin Salih), have been dated to the 3rd–2nd century BC,^[9] indicating the early human settlement of the area, which has an accessible source of freshwater and fertile soil.^[34][12] The settlement of the Lihyans became a centre of commerce, with goods from the east, north and south converging in the locality.^[34]

Nabataean era

The extensive settlement of the site took place during the 1st century AD,^[35] when it came under the rule of the Nabataean king Aretas IV Philopatris (Al-Harith IV) (9 BC – 40 AD), who made Hegra (Madaʾin Salih) the kingdom's second capital, after Petra in the north.^[34][36] The place enjoyed a huge urbanization movement, turning it into a city.^[34] Characteristic of Nabateaan rock-cut architecture, the geology of Hegra (Madaʾin Salih) provided the perfect medium for the carving of monumental structures, with Nabataean scripts inscribed on their façades.^[9]

The Nabataeans also developed oasis agriculture^[9]—digging wells and rainwater tanks in the rock and carving places of worship in the sandstone outcroppings.^[12] Similar structures were featured in other Nabataean settlements, ranging from southern Syria (region) to the north, going south to the Negev, and down to the immediate area of the Hejaz.^[9] The most prominent and the largest of these is Petra.^[9]

At the crossroad of commerce, the Nabataean kingdom flourished, holding a monopoly for the trade of incense, myrrh and spices.^[31][37] Situated on the overland caravan route and connected to the Red Sea port of Egra Kome,^[9] Hegra, as it was known among the Nabataeans, reached its peak as the major staging post on the main north–south trade route.^[12]

Roman era

In 106 AD, the Nabataean kingdom was annexed by the contemporary Roman Empire during the reign of the emperor Trajan.^[37][38][39] Hegra, which is part of the Hejaz, became part of the Roman province of Arabia.^[9]

The Hedjaz region was integrated into the Roman province of Arabia in 106 AD. A monumental Roman epigraph of 175–177 AD was recently discovered at al-Hijr (then called "Hijr" and now Mada'in Salih).^[9]

Unfortunately, and unlike other major ex-Nabataean sites like Petra and Bostra, there is no historical information recorded about Hegra in the Roman period. Everything known about the place comes exclusively from archaeological excavations. Over 30 inscriptions, written in Nabataean, Greek, and Latin have been found from this period.^[41] No Nabataean, Greek, or Latin inscriptions are generally found south of Hegra, making it something of a candidate for the southern terminus of how far the Roman occupation of the Arabian Peninsula extended.^[42]

In the Roman era, Hegra continued as a provincial centre, and a 175–177 AD Latin inscription calls it the civitas Hegrenorum, indicating its civic status. Furthermore, it was in this time that that the city saw an influx of traders and artisans, a sizable expansion of its Eastern Mediterranean imports, and a spike in local food production, trends that are partly associated with the Roman troops stationed at Hegra. The main sanctuary was upgraded, and the southeastern gate was re-built in the late second or early third century.^[43]

According to the inscriptions found, the main Roman army unit stationed at Hegra was from the legion called Legio III Cyrenaica (Third Cyrenaican Legion), units of which participated in the original annexation of Nabataea. Soldiers from a few other legions were also stationed in Hegra. The Romans there built a citadel fortification, and this fort acted as the headquarters of the local Roman troops. The Roman army abandoned Hegra by the late second or early third century, and civilian occupation section of the fort abandoned by the fourth century.^[41] The civilian population of Hegra as a whole persisted into the sixth century at minimum.^[44]

In the early sixth century, Hegra may have re-entered the Roman orbit: Justinian I, to counter the encroachment of the Sasanian Empire, pressed hard to expand his sway over the Arabian Peninsula by establishing a series of client states throughout it. Justinian is said to have been given rule over the "Palm Grove" (either Hegra or Tayma) by its leader Abu Karib ibn Jabalah, who Justinian in turn made phylarch over the region.^[45][46] In addition, a bowl decorated with a lion has been found at Hegra, with an artistic style typical of the late Roman Byzantine period, most likely the sixth century, suggesting long-distance trade with the Byzantine realm at this time.^[47]

By the end of the Roman era, Hegra began to lose its status as a centre of trade, leading to its eventual abandonment.^[38] This was because the trading itinerary that once passed through Hegra changed from the overland north–south axis on the Arabian Peninsula to the maritime route through the Red Sea.^[12] Many experts, based on archaeological studies, believe that the site lost all urban functions by the beginning of late antiquity, mainly due to desertification.^[9]

Early Islamic period

The early Islamic period of Hegra is very poorly documented. Only a few pottery sherds and Arabic inscriptions are known so far.^[48]

Medieval Islamic era

Hegra served as a station along the Hajj route in the Islamic period, providing supplies and water for pilgrims. The Arab traveller Al-Maqdisi, in the 10th century, noted that the site was a small oasis and activity focused on its wells. Al-Maqdisi is the only account, between the 4th and 19th centuries, to note human activity in the area. The 14th-century traveller Ibn Battuta noted the red stone-cut tombs of Hegra, by then known as "al-Hijr", but made no mention of human activity.^[9]

Ottoman era

The Ottoman Empire annexed western Arabia from the Mamluks by 1517.^[49] In early Ottoman accounts of the Hajj road between Damascus and Mecca, Hegra (Madaʾin Salih) is not mentioned, until 1672, when the Turkish traveller, Evliya Celebi noted that the caravan passed through a place called "Abyar Salih" where there were the remains of seven cities.^[50] It is again mentioned by the traveller Murtada ibn 'Alawan as a rest stop on the route called "al-Mada'in".^[50] Between 1744 and 1757,^[9][12] a fort was built at al-Hijr on the orders of the Ottoman governor of Damascus, As'ad Pasha al-Azm.^[50] A cistern supplied by a large well within the fort was also built, and the site served as a one-day stop for Hajj pilgrims where they could purchase goods such as dates, lemons and oranges.^[50] It was part of a series of fortifications built to protect the pilgrimage route to Mecca.^[50]

According to the researches of Al-Ansari, the Ottoman castle was found near the settlement dating to the year 1600 AD in 1984.^[29]

19th century

In 1812, Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt rediscovered Petra for the Western world. In the aftermath of the news making the rounds, Charles Montagu Doughty, an English traveller, heard of a similar site near Hegra (Madaʾin Salih), a fortified Ottoman town on the Hajj road from Damascus. To access the site, Doughty joined the Hajj caravan, and reached the site of the ruins in 1876, recording the visit in his journal which was published as Travels in Arabia Deserta.^[12][38] Doughty described the Ottoman fort, where he resided for two months, and noted that Bedouin tribesmen had a permanent encampment just outside of the building.^[50]

In the 19th century, there were accounts that the extant wells and oasis agriculture of al-Hijr were being periodically used by settlers from the nearby village of Tayma.^[12][38] This continued until the 20th century, when the Hejaz Railway that passed through the site was constructed (1901–08) on the orders of Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II to link Damascus and Jerusalem in the north-west with Medina and Mecca,^[12][38] hence facilitating the pilgrimage journey to the latter and to politically and economically consolidate the Ottoman administration of the centres of Islamic faith.^[51] A station was built north of al-Hijr for the maintenance of locomotives, and offices and dormitories for railroad staff.^[12] The railway provided greater accessibility to the site. However, this was destroyed in a local revolt during World War I.^[52] Despite this, several archaeological investigations continued to be conducted in the site beginning in the World War I period to the establishment of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in the 1930s up to the 1960s.^[9][53] The former railway station, restored and redeveloped, has been transformed into the Chedi Hegra Resort, opened in 2024. The project incorporates the historic station within the hotel complex, designed by the Milan-based architecture firm Giò Forma in collaboration with Black Engineering, and operated by General Hotel Management Ltd. (GHM) under its luxury brand The Chedi.^[54]

By the end of the 1960s, the Saudi Arabian government devised a program to introduce a sedentary lifestyle to the nomadic Bedouin tribes inhabiting the area.^[9] It was proposed that they settle down in al-Hijr, re-using the already existent wells and agricultural features of the site.^[9] However, the official identification of al-Hijr as an archaeological site in 1972 led to the resettlement of the Bedouins towards the north, beyond the site boundary.^[9] This also included the development of new agricultural land and freshly dug wells, thereby preserving the state of al-Hijr.

Recent developments

In 1962, examples of many inscriptions were discovered and renewed the archaeological assessment of Hijr (Madaʾin Salih) by Winnett and Reed.^[29] Although the Al-Hijr site was proclaimed as an archaeological treasure in the early 1970s, few investigations had been conducted since.^[11] Mirdad had lived here for a short time and wrote notices about the region since 1977. Healey studied here in 1985 and wrote a book about the inscriptions of Hijr (Madaʾin Salih) in 1993.^[29]

The prohibition on the veneration of objects/artifacts has resulted in minimal archaeological activities. These conservative measures started to ease up beginning in 2000, when Saudi Arabia invited expeditions to carry out archaeological explorations as part of the government's push to promote cultural heritage protection and tourism.^[11][31] The archaeological site was proclaimed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2008.^[55] More recent archaeological studies of the area have been made as part of efforts to document and preserve the heritage sites prior to opening the area to more tourism.^[56][57]

Architecture

The archaeological vestiges of Mada'in Salih are often compared with those of Petra (above), the Nabataean capital situated 500 km (310 miles) north-west of Mada'in Salih.^[9]

Qaṣr al-Farīd (Arabic: قَصْر ٱلْفَرِيْد‎, lit. 'the Lonely Castle') is the largest tomb at the archaeological site.

Tomb of Darius I (King of Achaemenid Empire), Naqsh-e Rustam, Iran

The Nabataean site of Hegra was built around a residential zone and its oasis during the 1st century CE.^[9] The sandstone outcroppings were carved to build the necropolis. A total of four necropolis sites have survived, which featured 131 monumental rock-cut tombs spread out over 13.4 km (8.3 miles),^[58] many with inscribed Nabataean epigraphs on their façades:

Non-monumental burial sites, totaling 2,000, are also part of the place.^[9] A closer observation of the façades indicates the social status of the buried person^[12]—the size and ornamentation of the structure reflect the wealth of the person. Some façades had plates on top of the entrances providing information about the grave owners, the religious system, and the masons who carved them.^[31] Many graves indicate military ranks, leading archaeologists to speculate that the site might once have been a Nabataean military base, meant to protect the settlement's trading activities.^[34]

The Nabataean kingdom was not just situated at the crossroad of trade but also of culture. This is reflected in the varying motifs of the façade decorations, borrowing stylistic elements from Assyria, Phoenicia, Egypt and Hellenistic Alexandria, combined with the native artistic style.^[9] Roman decorations and Latin scripts also figured on the troglodytic tombs when the territory was annexed by the Roman Empire.^[11] In contrast to the elaborate exteriors, the interiors of the rock-cut structures are severe and plain.^[31]

A religious area, known as "Jabal Ithlib," is located to the north-east of the site.^[9] It is believed to have been originally dedicated to the Nabataean deity Dushara. A narrow corridor, 40 metres (131 ft) long between the high rocks and reminiscent of the Siq in Petra, leads to the hall of the Diwan, a Muslim's council-chamber or law-court.^[9] Small religious sanctuaries bearing inscriptions were also cut into the rock in the vicinity.

The residential area is located in the middle of the plain, far from the outcrops.^[9] The primary material of construction for the houses and the enclosing wall was sun-dried mudbrick.^[9] Few vestiges of the residential area remain.

Water is supplied by 130 wells, situated in the western and north-western part of the site, where the water table was at a depth of only 20 m (66 ft).^[9] The wells, with diameters ranging 4–7 m (13–23 ft), were cut into the rock, although some, dug in loose ground, had to be reinforced with sandstone.^[9]