Much of the world knows Petra, the ancient ruin in modern-day Jordan
that is celebrated in poetry as ''the rose-red city, 'half as old as
time,''' and which provided the climactic backdrop for ''Indiana Jones
and the Last Crusade.''
But far fewer know Madain Saleh, a similarly spectacular treasure built by the same civilization, the Nabateans.
That's
because it's in Saudi Arabia, where conservatives are deeply hostile to
pagan, Jewish and Christian sites that predate the founding of Islam in
the 7th century.
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