When Harrison Ford finally found the Holy Grail inside the Khaznat al-Faron at Petra, at the climax of the film Indiana Jones and the last Crusade, a new myth was born. But Ford, and his scriptwriters, were only following in a long line of people who have contributed to the myths, misinformation and confusion surrounding the fabeled “rose-red city” of Petra - not only since its rediscovery in 1812 but as far back as the Middle Ages. The list of misconceptions with which Petra has been plagued over the centuries is almost overwhelming. Most are harmless errors in names, dates, attributions and the like, but, taken as a whole, they detract greatly from the reality of this important scenic and archeological site.

In the 16th century, the Spanish in New Spain (now Mexico) began to hear rumours of Seven Cities of Gold called Cíbola located across the desert, hundreds of miles to the north. The stories may have their root in an earlier Portuguese legend about seven cities founded on the island of Antillia by a Catholic expedition in the 8th century. The latter Spanish tales were largely caused by reports given by the four shipwrecked survivors of the failed Narváez expedition, which includedÁlvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and an African slave named Esteban Dorantes, or Estevanico. Eventually returning to New Spain, the adventurers said they had heard stories from natives about cities with great and limitless riches. However, whenconquistador Francisco Vázquez de Coronado finally arrived at Cíbola in 1540, he discovered that the stories were lies and that there were in fact no treasures as the friar had described — only adobe pueblos.