Hegra
Hegra, also known as Madaʾin Salih, is an archaeological site located in the area of Al-'Ula within Medina Province in the Hejaz region, Saudi Arabia.
A majority of the remains date from the Nabataean Kingdom. The site constituted the kingdom's southernmost and second largest city after Petra, its capital city. Traces of Lihyanite and Roman occupation before and after the Nabataean rule, respectively, can also be found. The site features more than 110 well-preserved Nabataean tombs carved into sandstone outcrops.
The archaeological site lies in an arid environment. The dry climate, the lack of resettlement after the site was abandoned, and the prevailing local beliefs about the locality have all led to the extraordinary state of preservation of Al-Hijr, providing an extensive picture of the Nabataean lifestyle. Thought to mark the southern extent of the Nabataean kingdom, Al-Hijr's oasis agriculture and extant wells exhibit the necessary adaptations made by the Nabataeans in the given environment—its markedly distinct settlement is the second largest among the Nabataean kingdom, complementing that of the more famous Petra archaeological site in Jordan. The location of the site at the crossroads of trade, and the various languages, scripts and artistic styles reflected in the façades of its monumental tombs further set it apart from other archaeological sites. It has duly earned the nickname "The Capital of Monuments" among Saudi Arabia's 4,000 archaeological sites.
The Quran places the settlement of the area by the Thamudi people during the days of the prophet Salih, between those of Nuh and Hud on one hand, and those of Ibrahim and Musa on the other. However, a definitive historical chronology can not be obtained through the order of verses because the Quranic chapters deal with different subjects in non-chronologic order. According to the Quran, the Thamudis were punished by God for their idolatry, struck by an earthquake and lightning blasts. Thus, the site has earned a reputation as a cursed place—an image which the national government is attempting to overcome as it seeks to develop Mada'in Salih for its potential for tourism.
In 2008, UNESCO proclaimed Mada'in Salih as a site of patrimony, becoming Saudi Arabia's first World Heritage Site. It was chosen for its well-preserved remains from late antiquity, especially the 131 monumental rock-cut tombs, with their elaborately ornamented façades, of the Nabataean Kingdom.
Location
The archaeological site of Hegra is situated north of the town of Al-'Ula, northwest of Medina, and southeast of Petra, Jordan. Istakhri wrote in his Routes of the Realms :The site is on a plain at the foot of a basalt plateau that forms a portion of the Hijaz Mountains. Beneath the western and northwestern parts of the site, the water table can be reached at a depth of. The setting is notable for its desert landscape, marked by sandstone outcroppings of various sizes and heights.
History
Name
Its long history and the multitude of cultures occupying the site have produced several names. References by Strabo and other Mediterranean writers use the name Hegra for the Nabataean site. The use of Mada'in Salih refers to the Salih, sent to ancient Arabs, a name and identity which may be derived from the biblical figure Methuselah.Although Hegra was for a long time not as important as Dedan, foreigners appear to have called the oasis Hegra. For example, the famous statue of the Achaemenid king Darius the Great made in Egypt and erected in Susa calls the Arabs hgr.
Rock writings
Recent archaeological work has revealed numerous rock writings and pictures not only on Mount Athleb, but also throughout central Arabia. 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.Lihyan/Dedanite era
Archaeological traces of cave art on the sandstones and epigraphs, considered by experts to be Lihyanite script, on top of the Athleb Mountain, near Hegra, have been dated to the 3rd–2nd century BC, indicating the early human settlement of the area, which has an accessible source of freshwater and fertile soil. The settlement of the Lihyans became a centre of commerce, with goods from the east, north and south converging in the locality.Nabataean era
The extensive settlement of the site took place during the 1st century AD, when it came under the rule of the Nabataean king Aretas IV Philopatris , who made Hegra the kingdom's second capital, after Petra in the north. The place enjoyed a huge urbanization movement, turning it into a city. Characteristic of Nabateaan rock-cut architecture, the geology of Hegra provided the perfect medium for the carving of monumental structures, with Nabataean scripts inscribed on their façades.The Nabataeans also developed oasis agriculture—digging wells and rainwater tanks in the rock and carving places of worship in the sandstone outcroppings. Similar structures were featured in other Nabataean settlements, ranging from southern Syria to the north, going south to the Negev, and down to the immediate area of the Hejaz. The most prominent and the largest of these is Petra.
At the crossroad of commerce, the Nabataean kingdom flourished, holding a monopoly for the trade of incense, myrrh and spices. Situated on the overland caravan route and connected to the Red Sea port of Egra Kome, Hegra, as it was known among the Nabataeans, reached its peak as the major staging post on the main north–south trade route.
Roman era
In 106 AD, the Nabataean kingdom was annexed by the contemporary Roman Empire. The Hejaz, which encompasses Hegra, became part of the Roman province of Arabia.The trading itinerary shifted from the overland north–south axis on the Arabian Peninsula to the maritime route through the Red Sea. Thus, Hegra as a centre of trade began to decline, leading to its abandonment. Supported by the lack of later developments based on archaeological studies, experts have hypothesized that the site had lost all of its urban functions beginning in late antiquity. In the 1960s and 1970s, evidence was discovered that the Roman legions of Trajan occupied Mada'in Salih in northeastern Arabia, increasing the extension of the Arabia Petraea province of the Romans in Arabia.
The history of Hegra during the period from the decline of the Roman Empire until the emergence of Islam remains unknown. It was only sporadically mentioned by travellers and pilgrims making their way to Mecca in the succeeding centuries. Hegra served as a station along the Hajj route, providing supplies and water for pilgrims. Among the accounts is a description made by 14th-century traveller Ibn Battuta, noting the red stone-cut tombs of Hegra, by then known as "al-Hijr". However, he made no mention of human activities there.
Ottoman era
The Ottoman Empire annexed western Arabia from the Mamluks by 1517. In early Ottoman accounts of the Hajj road between Damascus and Mecca, Hegra 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. It is again mentioned by the traveller Murtada ibn 'Alawan as a rest stop on the route called "al-Mada'in". Between 1744 and 1757, a fort was built at al-Hijr on the orders of the Ottoman governor of Damascus, As'ad Pasha al-Azm. 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. It was part of a series of fortifications built to protect the pilgrimage route to Mecca.According to the researches of Al-Ansari, the Ottoman castle was found near the settlement dating to the year 1600 AD in 1984.
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, 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. 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.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. This continued until the 20th century, when the Hejaz Railway that passed through the site was constructed on the orders of Ottoman Sultan Abdul Hamid II to link Damascus and Jerusalem in the north-west with Medina and Mecca, hence facilitating the pilgrimage journey to the latter and to politically and economically consolidate the Ottoman administration of the centres of Islamic faith. A station was built north of al-Hijr for the maintenance of locomotives, and offices and dormitories for railroad staff. The railway provided greater accessibility to the site. However, this was destroyed in a local revolt during World War I. 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. 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. under its luxury brand The Chedi.
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. It was proposed that they settle down in al-Hijr, re-using the already existent wells and agricultural features of the site. 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. This also included the development of new agricultural land and freshly dug wells, thereby preserving the state of al-Hijr.