Petra has been inhabited from prehistoric times. The city of Petra was the capital of the Nabateans-Arabs who dominated the lands of Jordan during the pre-Roman times. For seven centuries Petra laid into the mists of legend, while its existence is a guarded secret known only to the local Bedouins and Arab tradesmen. Finally, in 1812, a young Swiss explorer named Johann Ludwig Burckhardt heard locals speaking of a �lost city� hidden in the mountains of Wadi Mousa. Thus the secret of Petra was revealed to the modern Western world by Burckhardt. In the Bible it is written that Prophet Aaron, brother of Moses and Miriam died in Petra.