Question 1

True or false: Petra was originally built by the Romans as a trading post.

Accepted Answer

False. Petra was built by the Nabataeans, not Romans. Romans later annexed it in 106 AD, but they didn't found it.

Question 2

True or false: The Monastery in Petra is larger than the Treasury.

Accepted Answer

True. Ad-Deir (The Monastery) is 50 meters wide and 45 meters tall, significantly larger than the Treasury’s 30-meter facade.

Question 3

True or false: Petra was a filming location for 'Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade'.

Accepted Answer

True. The Treasury facade served as the entrance to the Holy Grail temple in the 1989 film, boosting Petra's global fame.

Question 4

True or false: Petra was never inhabited after the 7th century AD.

Accepted Answer

False. Petra was largely abandoned after a series of earthquakes, but Bedouins lived in the caves until the 1980s.

Question 5

True or false: Petra’s famous Treasury was actually a royal tomb, not a bank.

Accepted Answer

True. Despite its name, Al-Khazneh (The Treasury) is a mausoleum and crypt for a Nabataean king, carved in the 1st century BC.

Question 6

True or false: Only about 20% of Petra has been excavated by archaeologists.

Accepted Answer

True. Most of Petra remains buried. Excavations have revealed less than a fifth of the city, leaving much still underground.

Question 7

True or false: Petra has an advanced water system that used lead pipes.

Accepted Answer

False. Nabataeans used clay pipes and channels, not lead. They were masters of water conservation in the desert.

Question 8

True or false: Petra was flooded annually by the Nile River.

Accepted Answer

False. Petra is in southern Jordan, far from the Nile. Flash floods occur, but they're from local rains, not the Nile.

Petra Trivia Questions