File:Petra High Place of Sacrifice 1930.jpg

English: This is the area with the offerings table and with a drainage channel to the right. To the left we see the stairs leading to the high altar. See the info on the groundplan. Here we are at one of the largest cultic areas of Petra – there are many smaller ones located amongst the mountains that surround the ancient city. These sites were likely used for a variety of religious rites, which probably included sacrifice. It is possible that this particular cultic area was in use since the times of the Edomites in the Iron Age. The Nabateans, as with many other Semitic peoples, sometimes worshipped their gods in open-air high places and appear to have offered sacrifices to them. The cult complex includes a rectangular courtyard with three carved benches, or a “triclinium”, and a low table at its centre that may have been the seat of the master of the ceremony. An altar stand to the west on which baetyls (stone blocks representing a god) were placed. To the left of this was a platform with a carved circular basin, which was possibly used to collect rainwater for purification and a cup-shaped recess with a drain that may have received the blood from sacrificed animals. Sacrifical remains recovered from other Nabatean religious sites include burnt offerings of cereal grains and lifestock. The High Place of Sacrifice offers panoramic views over Petra, Wadi Mousa and Aaron’s tomb. Text from notice on site.