Sela

Sela is one of the first places that the Nabataeans appear, long before they settled into the area that was to become Nabataea. The mountain of Sela suited them well, for Sela is a small mountain with sheer rock cliffs on all sides. The top of the mountain was relatively smooth, making it a perfect fortress for the nomadic Nabataeans who needed a place to store their goods, and raise their children.

Selah is located in the mountains of Jordan, south of the town of Tafila, along the King’s Highway. It is a bit of a scramble to reach the mountaintop, but it is well worth the trip, especially if you can find the Assyrian inscriptions there. Selah was a major hub of Nabataean trading, and the scenery is breath taking. On the west and northwest corners of the top of Selah are two well preserved high places.

The mountain of Sela suited well as a fortified stopping place. The valley beside Sela descends to Wadi Arabah. Large camel caravans could camp at the foot of the Sela mountain. From Sela there were paths both down to Araba, as well as north, south, and east.

Sela is on the King’s Highway only a couple of kilometers from the old Edomite capital city of Bushera. The picture below is taken many miles away. Camel caravans would come over the hill and drop down into the valley where Sela mountain stands, completely surrounded by cliffs.

Around the mountain is a wide smooth area where camel caravans and visitors could spend the night. Some ancients thought of this as a ‘Treasure Mountain.’

In front of Sela Mountain is a large camping spot. Wide stairs lead up the side of the cliff to water reservoirs and eventually to the top of the mountain where there are more water cisterns. The reservoirs are strategically located so that the water could be released to wash away any attackers. The picture belows shows a boy with black pants standing at the bottom of the stairs that lead up the mountain. Much of the stairs are now in ruins.

Sela is first mentioned in Greek history when Antigonus the One-Eye attacked the Nabataeans at Selah. The Nabataeans had stored their belongings on the cliff top and were away at a local market, probably in nearby Busheira. The Nabataeans, who Diodorus claims probably only numbered 10,000 at this location, would have stashed their goods on the mountaintop, and have gone to the nearby Edomite capital, only a few kilometers away. They returned only one hour after the army had made off with their goods, and soon were on their pursuit. Diodorus places this event only thirty four miles from the Dead Sea, right about where Sela mountain is located.

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.” Traditionally some historians have thought that this was a description of Petra, but it easily describes the hills and cliffs around Selah. Petra on the other hand is located in the middle of an open valley, and water was piped in from miles away as there were no springs inside Petra itself.

Sela was a major hub of Nabataean trading, and the scenery is breath taking, especially down to Wadi Arabah.