The Pharaoh's Treasure at Petra
Petra's most famous building is called the Treasury because Bedouin believed a pharaoh hid his gold in the stone urn at its top. They shot at it for years.
What was reported
Al-Khazneh is the great facade carved into a rose-coloured cliff at the end of the narrow gorge leading into Petra. It was carved about 2,000 years ago by the Nabataeans, whose kingdom grew rich from the incense trade.
Local Bedouin believed a pharaoh, or bandits, had hidden treasure in the urn carved high on its front, and its name means 'the treasury'. The urn is still pitted with bullet marks from people who tried to shoot it open.
Explanations offered
The urn is solid rock. Archaeologists think the building was a royal tomb, possibly of the Nabataean king Aretas IV, and excavations below it have found burial chambers, though no treasure.
- When
- Believed for centuries
- Where
- Petra, Ma'an, Jordan
- Witnesses
- Bedouin of the area
- Status
- Explained
Famous cases are real, widely reported events. Each file sets out what witnesses said and the explanations that have been offered, without taking a side.
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