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50 free Petra trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Petra was lost to the West for six centuries until a Swiss traveller talked his way in with a goat, and its most famous façade is a tomb that legend turned into a treasury. This quiz covers the rock city from the Neolithic farmers of Beidha and the Edomites through the Nabataeans who called it Raqmu, their incense trade, cisterns and dams, Aretas IV, the Siq, the Treasury's Castor and Pollux, the 800 steps to the Monastery, the theatre and the garden pool. It then follows Rome and after: the annexation of 106, Trajan's road, Hadrian's coins, Palmyra's rise, the earthquake of 363, the Byzantine papyri, Crusaders and Baibars, Burckhardt's disguise, David Roberts, Burgon's rose-red line, National Geographic, UNESCO, the Bedul, Little Petra, Hegra and the Indiana Jones Grail temple. Easy questions suit anyone who has seen the Treasury on a screen; the expert tier asks for emperors, sultans and step counts. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's articles on Petra, the Nabataeans and the site's monuments, and the supporting sentence is attached to each question. If you like this, try our quizzes on Jordan and on the Seven Wonders.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01Petra lies in the south of which modern country?
Jordan
It is the country's most-visited tourist attraction and a national symbol.
Q 02What does the Greek word Petra mean?
Rock
Its inhabitants used a Nabataean name from a root meaning 'to mark, to decorate', perhaps for its carved façades.
Q 03What did the Nabataeans themselves call the city?
Raqmu
Josephus wrote that the Arabs of his day still called it Rekeme after its royal founder.
Q 04Petra's nickname 'the Rose City' comes from what?
The colour of its sandstone
John William Burgon's 1845 prize poem called it 'a rose-red city half as old as time'.
Q 05Around what date did the Nabataeans settle Petra?
300s BC
It became the capital of their kingdom two centuries later and grew rich on the incense routes.
Q 06What was the estimated peak population of Petra in the 1st century AD?
20,000
That was the century in which the Al-Khazneh was carved.
Q 07Which Nabataean king's mausoleum is Al-Khazneh thought to be?
Aretas IV
It was probably built as a mausoleum and crypt at the start of the 1st century AD.
Q 08Al-Khazneh is known in English by what name?
The Treasury
Legends said the stone urn high on its façade held a pharaoh's hoard; it is solid sandstone.
Q 09What is the name of the narrow gorge that leads into Petra, meaning 'shaft'?
The Siq
It is a natural split in the sandstone, in places only 3 to 4 metres wide, and also serves as a waterway.
Q 10Approximately how long is the gorge leading into the city?
1.2 km
Its walls rise between 91 and 182 metres and it ends at the city's most famous façade.
Q 11How tall is the Al-Khazneh façade?
37 m
It is 24 metres wide and its style recalls the architecture of Alexandria.
Q 12Which twin Greek gods, protectors of travellers, appear near the bottom of the Al-Khazneh façade?
Castor and Pollux
The façade also has a broken pediment with a central tholos and two obelisks.
Q 13What is Petra's largest monument, standing 45 metres tall and 50 metres wide?
The Monastery (Ad Deir)
It shows more Nabataean touches than Al-Khazneh while borrowing Greek elements.
Q 21Which rival caravan city drew the Arab trade away from Petra in the 2nd and 3rd centuries?
Palmyra
Sea routes finished the job, and Petra lingered mainly as a religious centre.
Q 22What natural disaster in 363 destroyed many buildings and crippled Petra's water system?
An earthquake
The city nonetheless survived into the Byzantine era as capital of Palaestina III.
Q 23What was found in Petra's Byzantine Church proving the city still flourished in the 6th century?
140 papyri, mostly contracts
They date from the 530s to the 590s.
Q 14Roughly how many steps must visitors climb to reach the Monastery?
About 800
The walk from the Basin takes around 40 minutes.
Q 15About how many people could Petra's rock-cut theatre hold?
8,500
It was cut into the hillside and even through several older tombs.
Q 16Excavations show the supposed 'market area' in Petra's centre was really what?
An elaborate garden with a swimming pool
The Petra Pool and Garden Complex included an island pavilion and an intricate hydraulic system.
Q 17How did the Nabataeans control the flash floods that visit the area?
Dams, cisterns and water conduits
Their skill at collecting rainwater is what let them thrive in the desert.
Q 18In which year did the Romans annex Nabataea, renaming it Arabia Petraea?
AD 106
Aulus Cornelius Palma Frontonianus was governor of Syria at the time; the city kept flourishing under Rome.
Q 19Which Roman emperor built the Via Traiana Nova through Petra between 111 and 114?
Trajan
It ran from the Syrian border to the Red Sea along old caravan routes.
Q 20Which emperor visited in 130 and put the name Hadriānī Petra Metropolis on his coins?
Hadrian
Unlike at Jerash, his visit brought no building boom.
Q 24Which two deities were the principal gods of the city?
Dushara and al-Uzza
Epiphanius wrote that a feast was held on 25 December for the virgin Khaabou and her son Dushara.
Q 25Which Swiss traveller rediscovered Petra for the West in 1812?
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt
Disguised as a local, he claimed to want to sacrifice a goat at the tomb of Aaron.
Q 26What alias did Burckhardt use during his travels in Arabia?
Sheikh Ibrahim Ibn Abdallah
He also rediscovered the temples of Abu Simbel in Egypt.
Q 27Which river was Burckhardt on his way to explore when he detoured to find Petra?
The Niger
He had heard stories of a dead city holding the tomb of the Prophet Aaron.
Q 28Which Scottish painter visited Petra in 1839 and published sketches of the Holy Land and Egypt?
David Roberts
Frederic Edwin Church followed in 1868 with the painting El Khasné, Petra.
Q 29Which poet won Oxford's Newdigate Prize in 1845 for a poem about Petra, a place he had never seen?
John William Burgon
His line 'a rose-red city half as old as time' stuck to the site for ever.
Q 30Which 1989 film used Al-Khazneh as the temple housing the Holy Grail?
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen and Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger also filmed there.