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RUTH STIEHL, 1970

CITY OF TOMBS. A southern outpost of the Nabatean kingdom, ancient Hegra (modern Madain Saleh) features more than a hundred well-preserved monumental tombs dating from the first century BCE to the first century CE. Cut into the sandstone, these funerary monuments bear witness to a variety of Hellenistic and Near Eastern decorative influences. Inscriptions from later centuries, however, indicate the presence of early Jews who had settled in the city. An Aramaic inscription (shown here) written using Nabatean script and dated to 356 CE is dedicated to one Mawyah, the wife of Hegra’s Jewish mayor, or “chief citizen.”