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Hegra
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How it came to be
Near Hegra, also called al-Hijr or Mada'in Salih, in north-western Saudi Arabia, Lihyanite inscriptions and rock art go back to the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC. In the 1st century AD, under the Nabataean king Aretas IV (9 BC-AD 40), Hegra became the kingdom's second capital after Petra.
It was a key stop on the incense route linking Arabia, the Mediterranean and Asia, and its oasis was fed by many wells cut into the rock. Between the 1st century BC and the 1st century AD more than a hundred monumental tombs were carved into the rock, most with decorated façades. It is the largest well-preserved Nabataean site south of Petra.
Rome under Trajan annexed the region in 106. The Nabataean town was abandoned before Islam, but the route kept serving caravans and pilgrims until the railway came early in the 20th century. In 2008 Hegra became Saudi Arabia's first World Heritage site.
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