The Nabateans

Migrating from Arabia and arriving in the sixth century BCE (Before Common Era), the Nabateans were a nomadic tribe, who abandoned their itinerant ways and settled across southern Jordan, northern Arabia and the Naqab desert. They chose Petra, the famous desert city carved from red limestone, as their capital. Petra had been previously occupied, but it was the fantastic and magnificent temples, palaces and tombs, which the Nabateans carved from solid rock, that made Petra's name.

The wealth of the Nabateans came from the region’s lucrative and extensive trade, including ivory, spices, wine, silks, precious metals and stones, incense, sugar, livestock, perfumes, and medicines. They were skilled and extensively travelled, engaging in commerce with places as far afield as China, Rome, Syria, India and Egypt. As a result, the Nabateans developed a culture that drew its influences from Hellenistic, Roman, Arabian and Assyrian sources.

Although much of the source material for our knowledge comes from one source - the Roman historian Strabo - we do know that the Nabateans had a surprisingly liberal spirit. There were no slaves in Nabatean society, almost unheard of at the time, and all members shared in work duties.

Roman Influences
The Nabateans flourished, resisting invaders until 65 BCE, when the Romans arrived in Damascus. Herod the Great (of biblical fame) eventually took control of large areas of Nabatean territory in 31 BCE. Having realised the strength of Rome, the Nabateans allied themselves with the Romans and, in 70 CE, helped them to quell the Jewish uprising that resulted in the sack of Jerusalem. The last Nabatean king, Rabbel II, struck a deal with the Romans, promising they would be allowed to occupy Nabatean territory on his death. He died in 106 CE and the Nabatean kingdom became the Roman province of Arabia Petrea.

Disappearance
The kingdom continued to flourish until the trade routes, which had prove so lucrative for the Nabateans in the past, shifted north and the Nabateans left Petra sometime during the 4th century CE. A period of anonymity followed, during which the city was 'lost' to the west from the 16th century until a Swiss traveller, Johann Ludwig Burckhardt, 'discovered' the ruins in 1812. The local Bedouin, of course, had always been familiar with the site.