Mada’in Saleh and Al Ula

A couple of weeks ago we returned from a trip a little way up north. The latter part of the trip was spent in a small city called Al Ula. We had read about it before and were anxious to visit. First, outside of Al Ula about twenty kilometers is a magnificent place called Mada’in Saleh. It’s a collection of 131 tombs dating back to the children of Noah. Over time there were multiple civilizations that inhabited the area. The early history is sketchy but suggests it was founded as a Minaean town. Most renowned of its dwellers were the Nabataeans. This is the same civilization that inhabited Petra in Jordan.
(Have you seen Indiana Jones and the Last Crusades?) Mada’in Saleh is referred to as the little sister of Petra. The people carved tombs out of the rock structures. Then they carved ornately decorated facades. The tombs are spread out over an area of at least ten square miles of land that resembles the southwest United States. There are tombs for people of lesser wealth, tombs for physicians (as marked by a sculpture of a person’s head with two snakes coming out of it – they revered Moses as a prophet and knew this story), tombs for plain ol’ wealthy people, and tombs for royalty.











There were two meeting houses that we saw. One was small and carved into a single standing rock. Another was quite large and carved at the opening of a canyon, called The Siq meaning corridor or passage. After passing this gathering room, the canyon opened up to include multiple levels of ritualistic areas. The meeting room was the first level. Then it progressed to a cistern that had a very intricate water canal built to feed water to it. There was an altar with another meeting room that opened toward it. One of the rooms had three distinct seats for the officiators. We hiked up steep stone stairs and crevices for about five hundred vertical feet. Dano expertly did this with Abby in the carrier on his back. Our climb culminated with reaching a large rock which was identified as a sacred altar. This alter was larger than the previous one and overlooked the entire valley of Mada’in Saleh. The canyon was riddled with inscriptions. The guide referred to this whole area as a mountain temple. We have our speculations of who could have worshipped here and were very humbled to be on such once-sacred ground.

We spent quite some time exploring the city of Al Ula. Al Ula was originally Dedan, the same that is mentioned in the Old Testament. It was inhabited by the Dedanites. As the local history tells, in approximately 500 B.C. the Dedanites changed their name to the Lihyanites (pronounced le-hi-an-ites) after one of their great leaders who dwelt with them for some time. The city of Al Ula is one of the major stops on the frankincense trail used by travelers for hundreds of years. Upon entering Al Ula we left the vast deserty land and were greeted by lush green date palms and thick green foliage, most definitely a “fertile part of the land.” The vast fertility has been attributed to the massive lava flows in the region thousands of years before, creating very rich soil. One morning we drove up the western side of the city, up the mountain through tight switchbacks a thousand feet. The top of the mountain looked like, as Dano described it, the moon; just flat and covered with black rocks as far as the eye could see. We drove to an overlook from which we could see all of Al Ula. The distinct difference in vegetation could readily be seen from here. From here, only with binoculars, we could look across the valley and see, at a slightly lower elevation, the noted Lihyanite sanctuary. This is on the side of Um Daraj mountain. At the entrance of the sanctuary there is a large rock with an etching on the face which clearly showed two people, a man and a woman, with a snake over their heads and two trees. Our guide said this was dated back to prehistoric times. Around the mountain we came upon the sanctuary. Unfortunately it has been closed off due to archeologist exploration. We were able to view it from the fence and saw the several tombs marked with lions etched in the façade. Here there is also a large basin or cistern that would have been for ritualistic washings. At the top of the mountain, which again we were unable to access, there is a Lihyanite temple. We could view this with our binoculars from the overlook I mentioned. Here there are steps carved up the mountain leading to amphitheater-like seating that would have held hundreds of people. There is a place carved in the ground believed to be used for animal sacrifices. There is another washing area with another basin. There are remnants of statues. The temple was multi-level with the highest being the most holy. The temple has been mostly destroyed. According to the Qu’ran, the people fell into idol worshipping and disgraced the temple. God destroyed it with a mighty gust of wind and killed the people.

Inside the city of Al Ula there is a large (am I using that word too much?!) ancient city formed out of mud walls. There are hallways that connect each home. From the outside, one would never guess that there are over eight hundred homes in this area of less than one square mile. It was built with fortress in mind. The homes are connected in a way that would make them nearly impermeable to invaders. Most of them are two stories. There are fourteen gates to the city and two mud buildings dedicated for worship. There is also a fort on the north side of the city. We enjoyed climbing the 193 stairs to the top from which watchmen could have the advantage of seeing any oncoming forces. Adjacent to the homes there was a large farm and agricultural area with mud walls separating the farms. The people of Al Ula appear to have been very industrious people.

The final part I want to include about our visit to Mada’in Saleh is the Hejaz railway. For those of you familiar with Lawrence of Arabia, it is the same railway. It was constructed in the beginning of the 1900s by the Ottoman Empire as a defensive asset bringing in Turkish soldiers, and also to transport pilgrims to facilitate performance of the sacred Hajj in Makkah (Mecca). The train ran from Damascus to Medina. It was later sabotaged during the First World War by raids of the Arabs led by T.E. Lawrence. There still remain abandoned forts all along the railway. The one in Mada’in Saleh had several buildings associated with it. They have somewhat refurbished it but the original locomotives are still housed in the train station. There is also a prison and execution chamber. In its nearly ten years of operation, it is recorded that the railroad transported 1,311,907 passengers. On our drive home we followed the abandoned train tracks for at least 100 kilometers noting the small fort remains. It’s funny to think that although this rail system is over a hundred years old it is the most modern part, by far, of the region.

We are so grateful we had this opportunity to explore this very historic part of Saudi Arabia, a part of history our children would never have learned about in school, a part of history that, as members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has given us a thrill as well as an appreciation for the first family of the Book of Mormon.