Posted on 11/06/2019 11:33:47 PM PST by SunkenCiv
LMAO!
Hills and mountains even in areas where the surface is arid frequently have springs. [There is a big aquifier under the desert in Linya for example.] As for mountains, any mass has gravitational attraction- so a hill or mountain pulls the water table up from where it would be on level ground... creating the potential for artesian springs.
Ah, look what I found:
Strabo (XVI.4.26) writes: “The metropolis of the Nabataeans is Selah, as it is called, for it lies on a site which is otherwise smooth and level, but it is fortified all around by rock, the outside part of the site being precipitous and sheer, and the inside parts having springs in abundance, both for domestic use and watering gardens.”
Nice pictures of the area at this link, really gives you a feel for the topography:
Josiah Gibson (12) standing at the bottom of the massive stairway that leads up to the top of Sela. While much of the stairs are in ruins, it is possible to climb to the top with little problem If you are very observant, you may even make out the various water defense systems along the way, where the Nabataeans stored water behind dams, that could be released to literally sweep an attacking army off their feet! ——http://nabataea.net/sela.html
Wow. Thanks for the site. After I read what you said about the water I found this site and this passage..
ancient-origins.net/ancient-technology/sophisticated-water-technologies-ancient-nabataeans-002193
...their impressive water channeling technology included many other processes, including the construction of aqueducts, terraces, dams, cisterns, and reservoirs, as well as methods for harvesting rainwater, flood water, groundwater, and natural springs.
Seems to back up what you say.
Probably much like how water was collected in Petra (another city carved out in the Jordan mountains) cisterns were constructed to collect flood water following heavy winter storms.
Psalm 46.3
Most interesting thing I read here is that Muhammed was a nabatean. that petra was an ancient site of pilgramage. And was the first pilgramage site for muslims before they moved it south to mecca. that petra and jerusalem were one end of the spice trade from india. that at one time it was full of statues of gods of sorts.
that it was likely this petra that st paul went to before he had his encounter with god on the road to damascus.
my wag is that his time in petra reoriented him eastward. that his encounter with god on the road to damascus was part of his reorientation back westward.
someday I’d like to hear a sermon that compared paul’s encounter with
God on the road to Damascus and Jacobs wrestling match with God as he returned to Israel.
But, even harder to believe they carried water up the stairs every day.
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That’s what slaves were for.
We already had neo-Cons, neo-Marxists and neo-Nazis to contend with.
Now we have neo-Babylonians too?
Technically, they're paleo now. ;^)
There's a bunch of YT vids (FWIW) that claim that the development of the direction of prayer in mosques follows the various military struggles and "religious" schisms in early Islam, and that originally Petra was the direction faced for prayers, with Mecca coming along later when a later would-be leader had to flee the area. For some period of time, the direction of prayer (this was mostly in Africa mosques) lay ona line that split the difference. It's not imploausible, which is not quite the same as my saying I find it compelling. Mecca was a temple site before the Mad Mo was born, and until the 20th century some of the old statues on the old route to the kaaba had survived (which is remarkable, given the prohibition on images). Atop the kaaba there used to be a seated, buddha-like idol which if memory serves was gone before the middle ages.
Technically, they’re paleo now. ;^)
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Oh! So now they’re diet fanatics and every conversation with them is going to be what we should and shouldn’t eat.
Great.
Just great.
My pleasure.
Hey, just do what they say, or they'll lock you up like bird in a cage. ;^)
My pleasure. And I wholeheartedly agree.
The Nabataeans buitl and carved out cisterns and stored runoff from the intermittent rains.
Hey, just do what they say, or they’ll lock you up like bird in a cage. ;^)
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Really?
That’s kinda rude.
I’m going to get one of those court orders that forbids them coming within 3,000 years of me.
LOL
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