Half as old as Time + 200 years

On this day, exactly 200 years ago, on August 22, 1812, the first Westerner (that we know of) set eyes on Petra, "the rose-red city, half as old as time"*. It was Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, a Swiss-born explorer that died only five years later, aged 32, a victim of dysenteria.

His account of the discovery reveals a state of mind considerably less romantic than one might imagine - but I still envy him. Profoundly so.

Here is an excerpt of his travel diary pertaining to what we now know for certain was Petra.

In following the rivulet of Eldjy westwards the valley soon nar­rows again; and it is here that the antiquities of Wady Mousa begin. Of these I regret that I am not able to give a very complete account: but I knew well the character of the people around me; I was without protection in the midst of a desert where no traveller had ever before been seen; and a close examination of these works of the infidels, as they are called, would have excited suspicions that I was a magician in search of treasures; I should at least have been detained and prevented from prosecuting my journey to Egypt, and in all probability should have been stripped of the little money which I possessed, and what was infinitely more valuable to me, of my journal book. Future travellers may visit the spot under the pro­tection of an armed force; the inhabitants will become more accustomed to the researches of strangers; and the antiquities of Wady Mousa will then be found to rank amongst the most curious remains of ancient art.

You can read the rest here.

* John William Burgon's fabulous "half as old as time" poetic figure (from his award-winning poem Petra, 1845) was actually a quote from Samuel Rogers' poem Italy ("A Farewell"), written in 1822: 

And now a parting word is due from him
Who, in the classic fields of Italy,
(If haply thou hast borne with him so long,)
Through many a grove by many a fount has led thee,
By many a temple half as old as Time;