Overview of the History of Nabataea: Introduction: North Arabia: a land of deserts, hills and seas. It is a landscape known for its difficult terrain but also for its seminal role as a nexus of point for the spice and incense trade. It was in this very land that in 312 BCE, the legendary Antigonos I Monophthalmos sent his henchman Athenaeos to plunder the wealth of the locals. After plundering the city of Petra, Athenaeos brought his troops with the enslaved women and children to a camp for a night’s rest before departing to Syria. As they were sleeping under the moonlight, 8,000 camel-riding warriors arrived to avenge this insult and massacred the Hellenes. These were the infamous Nabataeans, famous for their strength and their monopoly over the Silk Roads in northern Arabia and for being unconquered by any of the nearby empires. Petra, their capital city, is an ornate jewel carved in stone with beautiful temples and public buildings carved into the very hills of the desert. In this video, we will investigate the history of Nabataea, from their origins to their Golden Age as an independent Kingdom to their role as province of Rome. Welcome to our video on the Nabataeans, their history and their fascinating culture. Origins of the Nabataeans: The Nabataeans’s homeland is in Jordan and southern Palestine/Israel, and their origins lie in Arabia itself. The region the Nabataeans used to inhabit broadly covers modern-day Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula, and the southern Naqab desert in what is now Israel and Palestine. While the Nabataeans themselves have left us with much epigraphic evidence like inscriptions, they did not leave behind long texts, and were a diverse society unlike what older scholars have assumed. This heterogeneity made for some confusion amongst their nearby neighbours. Thus much like many other Near Eastern groups, we have inherited a rather colourful view of them from surviving Greco-Roman and Hebrew sources that talk about their society. The region was inhabited during the Bronze and Iron Ages by various other Semitic groups like the Kingdom of Edom in modern-day Jordan. However, most of our sources for the region are archaeological and we do not know when the Nabataeans arrived in the region. The historical record for the ancestors of the Nabataeans is thus, very patchy. The Nabataeans likely arrived in the region during the Iron Age. Most scholars assume some sort of migration to have taken place to the region from the south, but we are not sure of any details. However, the presence of Arabic tribes, of which the Nabataeans were one, is attested from the Greek historian Herodotos who mentions them as facing off against the Persian King Cambyses and for worshipping two Gods: Al-Ilat, who Herodotus associated with the Greek Goddess Aphrodite, and Orotalt, who he associated with Dionysios. The Behistun Inscription commissioned by King Darios the Great also mentions Arabs as subjects of Darios the Shahanshah , so we can be reasonably certain that the region was inhabited by Arabic tribes in the Iron Age. The Nabataeans were first referred to by their name in 312 BCE, during the so-called ‘Nabataean Confrontations’. In this standoff, the Macedonian Antigonid Dynasty, who ruled large swathes of the Hellenistic World after Alexander the Great’s death, tried three times to raid the Nabataeans. The reason the Antigonids launched an invasion into Nabataean lands was to seize control of the bitumen industry the Nabataeans possessed a virtual monopoly over, for bitumen was an extremely valuable substance at the time, used in many important processes, like the Egyptian practice of mummification. The fact that a large Empire like the Antigonids were willing to launch a large and costly expedition into Nabataean lands indicates that during this time, the Nabataeans were considered a rich and sophisticated people. This suggests that as early as the 3rd century BCE, the Nabataeans were already in the process of mastering the processes for which they became famous, namely their control of the flow of precious spice and incense through crucial trade routes. Both the Kingdom of Nabataea and the city of Petra were likely founded around this time. This is likely a result of increasing centralisation from a more loose form of polity in response to increasing trade. However, very little historical or archaeological evidence exists from this period besides the mentions of Petra in the Nabataean Confrontations. The importance of trade to the Nabataeans is found in this passage of the Greek historian Diodoros Sikelos: While there are many Arab tribes who use the desert as pasture, the Nabataeans far surpass the others in wealth although they are not much more than ten thousand in number; for not a few of them are accustomed to bring down to the sea frankincense and myrrh and the most valuable kinds of spices, which they procure from those who convey them from what is called Arabia Eudaemon. There is a debate as to whether the Nabataeans were a so-called ‘Bedouin state’, meaning a polity run by a nomadic military class. Our main source for chronology, coinage, has no local royal rulers in this period, so we cannot know much more. What we do know is that the Nabataeans were going to become seminal in both the Hellenistic and Roman periods. We also know that the Nabataeans were an increasingly rich society due to the incense trade of the period increasing. Nabataean Kingdom: We will now move on to the founding of the Nabataean Kingdom itself. Nabataean history seems to go dark for the next century, but this does not mean that they disappeared. Indeed, they likely continued to trade and build their state structures during this time. The state appears to expand as they are mentioned as allies of the Maccabees, the fundamentalist Jewish dynasty, in their revolt against the Seleucid Empire in 167 BCE. It is around this period that we have the first named Nabataean king, Aretas I. Said king’s reign is not well known, besides in the Book of Maccabees where he imprisons Jason, the High Priest of Israel. The Nabataeans had a tumultuous relationship with the Maccabees, at times allied to them and at times their enemies. It appears as if the Nabataeans often fought skirmishes with the Jewish Kingdom, with the two polities raiding into each others’ territory and taking prisoners as slaves. By the 2nd Century BCE, the on-and-off skirmishing between the Nabataeans and the Hasmonean dynasty of Judea, had evolved into a titanic clash due to meddling in Hasmonaean dynastic affairs by the Nabataeans. During this struggle, the next two known kings of the Nabataean Kingdoms, Aretas II and Obodas I, faced off against the neighbouring Jewish kingdom in various skirmishes and wars, with the latter king achieving significant victories. During this period, the city of Petra began to expand aggressively, with a series of new central squares, markets and pool complexes adding to its already cosmopolitan atmosphere. Thus, it can be assumed that the Nabataean Kingdom’s main source of wealth, the incense trade routes, were not affected by their wars with the Jewish Kingdom, and thus continued to propel Nabataea’s expansion. This expansion reached a higher tempo during the reign of the Nabataean king, Aretas III, who succeeded in conquering the city of Damaskos , albeit rather briefly. He seems to have been rather ambitious, as he tried to expand his kingdom and gain vassal states in Judaea and Palmyra. The Nabataean King besieged Jerusalem for several months to put his ally, Hyrcanus II, back on the throne after his expulsion by his brother. However, he was expelled after a Roman intervention favouring the new king, Aristoboulos II. It was here that the Roman Republic, already a player under Pompey’s campaigns, began to fight the Nabataeans due to its alliance with surrounding states. During 62 BCE, the Romans besieged Petra, but accepted a bribe of 500 talents to withdraw after realising the harsh terrain was too much for them. Three decades later, the Nabataean King Malichos I faced an invasion by Herod the Great, who, backed by the famous Kleopatra of Egypt, managed to take over the region. The intelligent Pharaoness was playing both sides, so she then sent aid to the Nabataeans, who routed the Herodian troops. These mutual battles continued throughout the year until the two sides fought themselves into a stalemate. While the Nabataeans and the Hasmoneans fought one another, Rome’s shadow over the Levant was growing larger, especially after the Battle of Actium in 31 BCE which resulted in the conquest of Egypt by Rome, a conflict in which both the Herodian and Nabataean Kings avoided taking sides. After this period, Nabataea would slowly move into Rome’s orbit before being peacefully assimilated into the Empire itself. Roman Nabataea: We will now move on to the Roman Period of Nabataea. The next king, Malichus II and his Queen Shagilat II, chose to ally themselves with the Romans and thus avoided conflict with them. The last king, Rabbel II was the son of this couple and his reign lacks historical detail. We only know that after he died in 106 CE, Emperor Trajan marched into Nabataea and annexed it to the Roman Empire as the Province of Arabia Petraea. The Roman annexation of Nabataea seems to have been relatively peaceful, with little evidence of fighting. This is likely because the Nabataeans were firmly allied to Rome after Actium and thus were more inclined to accept their rule. The Roman Period seems to have changed the major influence the Nabataeans had on world trade. New naval routes emerged through Egypt as Rome acquired the country meaning that Nabataea had less of a monopoly on trade. Moreover, the Romans used their territory to build forts to exert greater control over Nabataea’s trade routes. Fertile areas within the new Roman Province, like the southern Hauran region and the Azraq Oasis, experienced significant development as clusters of forts were constructed to house the Roman army. Unfortunately, historians know very little about how daily life for the native Arabs of this region changed during the era of Roman rule. However, the increase of non-Arabic inscriptions written in Greek and Latin and found in the region from this era suggests a degree of cultural shift towards Romanization. During the 2nd Century CE, a lot of regional governors, particularly in Syria, rose up in revolt and tried to proclaim themselves Emperors. The region seems to not have joined up with these governors of the East, and was usually rewarded for this with expansion of its territory. An example of this is when Septimius Severus came to power and enlarged the province to have Jabal al-Druze in modern-day southern Syria. Emperor Diocletian’s reforms continued this pattern by giving it parts of the Naqab desert. With the coming of Christianity, Churches appeared in various Nabataean cities like Mampsis. This brought Nabataea into the Diocese of the East, which was centered in Antioch. We are unsure what kind of Christianity took hold there, but the region’s proximity to Egypt and the later Ghassanid state suggest that at some point Miaphysite Christianity took hold. Nabataean Society and Religion: Let us now step out of the flow of time for a moment and take a moment to discuss what Nabataean society, culture and religion looked like during the height of the Nabataean Kingdom. The Nabataeans were both a city-dwelling people and a nomadic people, and while we have a decent amount of information on the lifestyle of the former, information on the latter is more lacking. The Nabataeans were masterful traders and craftspeople, as their aforementioned control of the Bitumen and Incense industries attest. Studies of Nabataean clay lamps show very beautiful designs, featuring solar halos and depicting scenes from Greek myths on their surfaces. These humble lamps suggest that the Arabs of Nabataea possessed an artisanal sophistication that equaled their Muslim descendants in the Islamic Golden Age. This sophistication is further elucidated when we investigate the architecture of their largest city and most important cultural hub: Petra. Many landmarks in Petra feature architecture that is astronomically aligned to phenomena like equinoxes and solstices. Large markets and bazaars adorn the city, while rock-cut buildings provide a shielding coolness from the heat of the desert sun. Most beautiful of all are water structures used for both beauty and drinking. In a remarkable feat of water-management and aesthetics, Nabataean elites built large complexes of gardens with pools, likely as a form of showing status , for who had more wealth and power than he who could create a coolwater pool in the middle of the desert? Women in Nabataean culture appear to have had more rights afforded to them than in the rest of the Mediterranean world. One theory explaining why this was postulated that women were particularly influential in the religious sphere, serving as priestesses who could commune with the various Gods the Nabataeans worshipped. In terms of religion, the Nabataeans were equally diverse in terms of beliefs. Their main pantheons included the mountain deity Dushara and his consort Al-’Uzza, with the latter being famous as a major pan-Arabian pre-Islamic deity. These had some sort of connection to the royal Nabataean house. Other pre-Islamic Arabian gods, like Al-Lat appear in inscriptions and in sacrifices, like Al-Lat. These deities were also later complemented by Greek and Roman deities, such as Helios, Dionysos and Zeus, due to Hellenisation having a major influence in the region. This constellation of deities was supplemented by yet more Gods that the Nabataeans imported from their Egyptian and Syrian neighbours. The Nabataeans worshipped these many diverse deities of both native and foreign origin within various sanctuaries and temples, many of which were found in Petra. All in all, the Nabataeans were a cosmopolitan people, who were malleable to adopting the customs of other cultures while remaining true to their own indigenous Arabic roots. Late Antique Nabataea: The sunset and twilight years of the Nabataeans came in the Late Antique Period, though by then the name Nabataeans was not as prevalent. By the 3rd Century CE, Christianity was rapidly becoming the predominant faith in the Eastern half of the Roman Empire, and by extension in Nabataea as well. As the faith of the cross ballooned in popularity among the cities of North Arabia, so too did Greek, the main language of the Eastern Roman Empire, gain an increasing foothold in the region. Soon, Greek had largely replaced Aramaic, the language of Jesus, which had previously been the language of intercultural communication throughout much of the middle east. With that said, among themselves, it can be assumed that the Nabataeans continued to speak an indigenous from of the Arabic language. Meanwhile, the city of Petra continued to be an important regional centre until as late as the 6th Century BCE, albeit in a diminished capacity. By this time, the name Nabataean had disappeared from the historical record. Instead, by the 3rd Century CE, a new Arabian force emerged in their place: the Ghassanids. Originally stemming from somewhere in southern Arabia, the Ghassanids had migrated north into Nabataean territory and taken over the region as foederati, or vassals of the Eastern Romans. By now, the Nabataeans themselves had evolved into an exclusively sedentary people, abandoning their nomadic roots. The Ghassanids later converted to Christianity and fought with the Byzantines against the Sassanians. Eventually, a new player arrived on the scene from the deserts of Mecca: the Islamic Caliphate. When the natal Muslim Empire exploded onto the world stage and conquered most of the middle east, the Nabataeans was incorporated alongside the Ghassanids into the new state, with its populations largely converting to Islam. Even after the Islamic conquest, the Nabataean cities of old remained prevalent in the landscape, their glistening pools and lush gardens continuing to bring colour to the arid landscape. Thus as the old moon of Al-’Uzza waned and the new crescent of Islam waxed, the Nabataean Kingdom became a memory that subsequent Arabian bedouins and sedentary peoples would pass by on their continuous journeys to farm and trade across the very same Incense Routes. Conclusion: With the end of the Late Antique Period, Dar al-Islam took hold of the Silk Road hubs of Nabataea. Although the Nabataean Kingdom had long since become a thing of the past, the Nabataeans themselves did not really fade away, but were simply transformed by the coming of the Mediaeval Period. In many ways, they still exist in the gardens and temples of Petra, in the forts of Bosra and in the various oases and wadis of modern-day Jordan. Their control of trade reminds us that the spice must always flow, while their cultural ingenuity shows that humanity can turn even the harshest of environments into a paradise. When we visit sites like Petra and wander through the rock-cut monuments, it is easy to fall into a sense of awe. Their ornate gardens, where perhaps the old Arabian gods still dwell, are true reflections of shangri-la under the hot Jordanian sun. The Nabataeans will always be an example on how to forge beauty in the harshest of terrains, and how to prosper and flourish autonomously in a land of empires. And that is a legacy more fragrant than all the incense in the world. 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