Athenias and the Stone City of Petra

Athenias marched out into the desert from judea with an army made up of four thousand soldiers armed with long pikes and 600 horsemen. It took athenius and his soldiers three days to travel the hundred and 60 kilometers across the desert. They found it almost completely undefended. There seems to have been no permanent garrison guarding the city of petra, and the nabatian men were away on business. And here we can get a se for the vast wealth that had been amassed in this city.