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ERIC LAFFORGUE/ALAMY STOCK PHOTO

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.