The name is unknown to Lewis’ list of visitors to Petra but is included in that of Brünnow and von Domaszewski who put him under 1854 with a simple note that it was in Spring and a reference to a short article published in a German periodical in 1855. The article – by O. Blau, a semitic expert, was called “Inschriften aus Petra”. Blau credits some of these inscriptions to someone he refers to several times as ‘L. Ross’ and on the first occasion says: “a brave English traveler”. Later he says that when Ross returned to Constantinople he sent the records of the inscriptions to him (Blau). As yet no British traveller to Petra called Ross is known. Blau’s characterization of him as a researcher and keen observer of what scholars will want to know is suggestive. Likewise, Ross’s careful recording of Semitic inscriptions – but unwillingness to publish them himself, suggests he is both more than a tourist and may imply he is an epigrapher, and perhaps based in Constantinople.
Is ‘L. Ross’ in fact Ludwig Ross? This Ross is not British, of course, but his father Colin was from northern Scotland, had married a local woman in Schleswig-Holstein when it was still part of Denmark, and had several children including Ludwig, the future Professor of Archaeology (1845-59) at University of Halle. Ludwig Ross (22 July 1806, Bornhöved – 6 August 1859, Halle) was the well-known explorer of classical Greece and publisher of many Greek inscriptions; Director of Antiquities for Greece (1834-6); and with several books on the antiquities of Greece to his credit. It would make sense to see him as the man who undertook an expedition across Sinai, recorded inscriptions at Wadi Mukkateb, then others at Petra before finishing up in Constantinople.
The only other known visitor to Petra in 1854 is ‘C. Rodewald’, recorded on a graffito in the Khazneh. A German name – was he perhaps a travelling companion of Ross?
If the identification is correct, it is a relatively rare and early example of a scholar visiting Petra and it would be useful to know more about the visit. Fortunately there has been considerable recent research on Ludwig Ross’s work in Greece and scholars may also be aware of a possible tour of the Levant in 1854.
Ross Ludwig
East of Jordan 