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Overview
The Petra tombstones in Jordan are famed for their "baroque" architecture carved out of pink sandstone by the Nabataeans. This comprehensive survey, the first volume in the new British Academy Monographs in Archaeology series, dates many of the famous Petra monuments against similar rock-cut tombs at Medain Saleh in Saudi Arabia. Through close examination of the monuments as well as the little known remains of Ptolemaic Alexandria, the Hellenistic city founded by Alexander the Great, Murphy reveals that the earliest baroque architecture was that of Ptolemaic Alexandria. The style was then transmitted to Petra and Pompeii. Lavishly illustrated with over 700 photographs and figures, including a detailed catalog of the monuments, the volume uncovers Petra as a city, rather than merely a necropolis.