Petra - Aneisho Tomb

On higher ground to the north-west, is a handsome façade with a double cornice and a single, monumental crow-step crowning it. It is Tomb 813, now known as the Tomb of 'Uneishu from a fragment of inscription found on a loose stone which may or may not have originated in this tomb. The inscription named one ''Uneishu, brother of Shaqilath, Queen of the Nabataeans...' A Queen Shaqilath appeared on Nabataean coins uninterruptedly for over 60 years: first was the second wife of Aretas IV; second a 'sister', or consort, of Aretas' son and heir Malichus II, and mother of Rabbel II, for whom she was regent for the first six years of his reign.

The Shaqilath connection dates the tomb to anywhere between AD 15 and 76. However, the lack of a king's name suggests the period of regency in AD 70-76. As 'brother' was the term used for the chief minister, 'Uneishu may have been the minister of Queen Shaqilath II.

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