Cornelius Palma, lieutenant of Trajan. From it was formed the Province of Arabia, "redacta in formam provincie Arabia", as Trajan's sign-posts read, ex- tending from Bostra in Hauran to the Red Sea. In 295 the province was divided into Arabia Augusta Libanensis on the north, with Bostra as metropolis, and Arabia on the south, with Petra as metropolis. Twelve years later Southern Arabia was united with the Province of Palestine to be again detached in the second half of the fourth century (between 358 and 390), and to constitute thenceforth Palestina Tertia or Palestina Salutaris, with Petra as metropolis. The custom arose of calling it Arabia Petræa, because of the city of Petra, and not with the implication that the region was rocky, for it is rather fertile. After a visit from the Emperor Hadrian Petra took the sur- name of Hadriana, found on the coins and on some inscriptions.
Christianity was introduced into Petra doubtless at an early date, for in the time of Strabo, who has de- scribed the country (XIV, iv, 21 sq.), Greek and Latin merchants flocked thither. Among its bishops Le Quien (Oriens christ.. III, 721-8) mentions St. Asterius, whose feast is celebrated on 20 June, one of the defenders of the Council of Ni- cæa and St. Athan- asius; his conten- porary Germanus, probably an Arian; John (457); Theo- dore (536), biog- rapher of St. Theodosius the Cenobite; Atheno- genes. a relative of the Emperor Mau- rice (end of the sixth century). An
inscription indicates likewise a bishop by the name of Jason (probably fifth century). The Diocese of Petra in Palestine. mentioned by Le Quien (ibid., III, 663-70), who relied on a faulty text of St. Athanasius, never existed. In the time of John Moschus (seventh century) Petra was a flourishing monastic centre, but the decline of the city was even then far advanced, be- cause the direction of commerce had changed and the prosperity of Palmyra had injured that of Petra. When the Franks took possession of the country in the twelfth century and founded their Trans-Jordanie principality they established somewhat prior to 1116 a stronghold called "Li Vaux Moyse", a translation of the Arabic name Quadi-Moussa, the ruins of which have been discovered near the village of El-Dji. It was captured by the Arabs, first in 1144 and definitively in 1188. The Latin archdiocese, called Petra Deserti, which was established by the crusaders in 1168, must not be confused with our Petra; the former is Charae- Moba, the ancient capital of the Moabites, now El- Kerac (Le Quien, ibid., III, 1305; Du Cange, Les familles d'Outre-mer, Paris, 1859, p. 755; Eubel, Hierarchia catholica medii ævi, I, 418).
Petra, now Ouadi-Moussa, is completely ruined. Of the Græco-Roman city there remain, besides the theatre hewn from the rock, only shapeless ruins; but the tombs dug in the sides of the mountain surrounding the city are one of the wonders of the world. There are more than 3000, of different periods. Archæology, it is true, regards some of them as temples. As the red sandstone from which the tombs are hewn is veined with a variety of colours, and as the light is dazzling, this city of the dead presents the appearance of a veri- table fairy-land, the like of which is not to be seen elsewhere in the world. Recently the high place and the site of the altar of sacrifice have been discovered. When the late Archbishop of New York, Michael Augustine Corrigan, was coadjutor to Cardinal Me- Closkey, his titular see was that of Petra. LABORDE, Voyage dans l'Arobie Pétrée (Paris, 1830-34); WIL- SON, The Lands of the Bible, I (Edinburgh), 291-336; STANLEY, Sinai and Palestine (London, 1860), 87-98; PALMER, The Desert of Exodus, II (London, 1871); LIBBEY, The Jordan Valley and Petra (New York, 1905); LUYNES, Voyage d'exploration à la Mer Morte etc. (Paris, 1871), 274; BUHL, Gesch. der Edomiter (Leipzig, 1893); BRUNNOW AND DOMASZEWSKI, Die Provincia Arabia, 1 (Strasburg, 1904); MUSI, Arabia Petraca, II (Vienne, 1907); DALMAN, Petra und seine Felsheiligstümer (Leipzig, 1908); SARGENTON-GALICHON, Sinai, Maan, Pétra (Paris, 1904); Revue Biblique (1897; 1898; 1902 1903); KERGORLAY, Sites délaissés d'Orient (Paris, 1911), 91-154. S. VAILHÉ.
Petrarch, FRANCESCO, Italian poet and humanist, b. at Arezzo, 20 July, 1304; d. at Arquá, 19 July, 1374. His father, Petracco or Pe- traccolo (a name which the son adopted as his cog- nomen, changing it to Petrarea) came of a family belong- ing originally to the region of the Val- darno, but already settled for some time at Florence. There Ser Petracco acted as clerk of one of the courts of justice, but with other White Guelphs he was banished in 1302, and went to Arezzo. Francesco's earli- est years were spent chiefly at In- cisa in the ances- tral district of the Valdarno. In 1310 his father transferred their abode to Pisa, whence the family went to Avignon in France, which had been for about six years the papal residence. Between 1315 and 1319 the lad was trained at Carpentras under the tutelage of the Italian Convenevole da Prato. His father in- tended him for the legal profession, and sent him for the necessary studies to Montpellier (1319–23) and to Bologna (1323-5). Francesco disliked the eareer chosen for him, and devoted himself as much as pos- sible to belles-lettres, thereby so incensing his father that, upon one occasion, the latter burned a number of his favourite ancient authors. When Ser Petracco died in 1323, Francesco returned to Avignon and took minor orders, which permitted him to enjoy church benefices and only bound him to the daily reading of his Office. He entered rather freely into the gay and fashionable life at Avignon, and there on Good Friday (1327) he saw for the first time Laura, the lady who was to be the inspiration of his most famous work. In spite of what he himself says as to his first encounter with Laura, many persons have doubted her real existence. The majority of critics, however, believe that she was truly a lady in the flesh, and some iden- tify her with a certain Laura, the wife of Hugues de Sade (d. 1348). There would seem to be little chance for romance in such an attachment, yet the weight of authority is in favour of regarding it as a genuine one productive of true and poignant emotion in Petrarch, however Platonic it may have reniained. About 1330 the poet began a period of restless
