Mada'in Salih, the Cursed City

I suspect that Mada'in Salih will possibly be the greatest thing I will see in this country. I loved everything about it. It is funny because when we were putting this whole trip together in Riyadh, our travel agent said "why do you want to go to Mada'in Salih? Its just an ugly desert" I thought to myself, you've got to be kidding right!? This is one of the top archeological sites in the world! Interestingly enough, the area of Mada'in Salih and the city of Al Ula (which is about 20 minutes away) were, in my opinion, the most beautiful parts of Saudi Arabia that I have yet seen.

Mada'in Salih (or "Cities of Salih") are significant for many reasons. It was created by the Nabateans about 2,000 years ago. These are the same people who built the famous site Petra, in Jordan. But the history of the city goes back many thousands of years before that. In the Qu'ran you can read about a prophet named Salih. He was sent by Allah to this city to call them to repent of their idol worship. These people (named the Thamud) said they would not believe unless Allah would call to them (or maybe create out of a mountain?) a she camel. The prophet Salih did call this great pregnant she camel to the people. But the people rejected the sign and killed the camel, and sent the camel's child screaming back to the mountain. So the story goes that the people were destroyed by lightning and earthquake. Our guide told us the prophet Mohammed said that the area was cursed and that whoever drinks the water of this region will also be cursed. It is for this reason that MANY people in Saudi Arabia refuse to come to this incredible place. Our guide also told us that in the city of Al Ula, the Bangladesh boys, and the Sudanese boys who pick dates, will have to lie when they sell them to other cities and say they came from another place because the dates are cursed and people would not buy them otherwise. Now on to the pictures:
This is our guide, who was amazing by the way. He knew a lot about the area and told us a lot of incredible stories. The circle he drew in the sand is a model of the area Mada'in Salih. He is telling us that the circle in the center is still off limits to all people because of the curse! So we could not go into that portion of the site. He tells us though that there is probably much that could be excavated there, and there are still many treasures yet to be found that people would love to find and sell on the black market.

These were some of the first tombs of the Nabateans that we saw here. There are over 150 tombs like this at Mada'in Salih. Each tomb belonged to a family and they would bury their family in that spot at death.

This is Chris and Sam looking at the burial place of the tomb. The bodies of the Nabateans were placed in these areas with their treasures at death. Today most of them are gone, but there are still some tombs with bodies and treasures in them. But we could not go inside

Me in one of the tombs.

This tomb is fenced off because it still has a body and maybe some treasure inside.

The picture above is of the Nabatean holy place. This was an area where they would go to pray to their gods. I think it functioned like some sort of temple for them.

Here we are sitting in their holy place. Our guide is explaining to us the functions of the area and their gods.

These slots in the wall are where they would place statues of their gods and pray to them.

Continuing our march through the Nabatean holy place. There was a lot to see here. Many slots in the walls for the gods, and places to ritually wash themselves as well. We saw an area where they would sacrifice animals as well.

This grafiti was placed in the Nabatean holy area. Our guide told us it means "No god but our god" , obviously placed there by a Muslim

Also located at Mada'in Salih was the old Hijaz railway station. It was destroyed during World War I by Lawrence of Arabia and his army of Arabs who fought off the Turkish empire. Lawrence was near this area for some of his battles. The old rail station still remains today.

The old train.

Here I am under the train now. I look so happy.

I thought this random lamp post looked really cool by itself with the desert background.

Back to the tombs again.

Me, Sam, and Chris in front of the tombs.

This was a common feature of all the tombs. Do you see the eagle above the door? Well its head has been knocked off. That is because this eagle represented a god to the Nabateans and so the Muslims destroyed all the eagle heads because, as the grafiti in the earlier picture said "our god is the only god" The five flowers you see in the picture represent the number of sacrifices this family would do (I think on a yearly basis) Some tombs had only one or three flowers. Five flowers meant you came from a rich family. Also, can you see the head with the two snakes at the side? This is a warning to people who enter the tomb. You can only go in your own families tomb or other tombs IF you have permission. The snakes at the side of the head mean that god will curse you if I remember correctly.

Another look at the inside of the tombs.

From one of the tombs, if you climbed up it led up the mountain. We were able to climb up to the top of this particular moutain. That is our guide waiting for us below.

Getting higher and higher.

At the top of this mountain were the remains of an old fortress build by the Ottomon Turks. You can see the old walls in the background. Far in the distance is the Kings Tomb.

Everyone enjoying the view.

This is the Kings Tomb. Probably the most spectacular of them all.

Here I am in front of the Kings Tomb. That was all for our time at Mada'in Salih on this day. We went home that night and we watched the movie "Lawrence of Arabia" in a bedouin tent, using a computer and projecter screen. It was the first time I had ever seen the movie and it was really great. There was probably no better place to watch the movie than right near where he fought some of his battles.