Who were the Nabateans?

The Nabateans (also spelled Nabataeans) were nomads from Northern Arabia who developed a wealthy and sophisticated kingdom from the 4th century BCE in southern Jordan, the Negev and northwest Arabia. They controlled the lucrative incense and spice trade, and their incense route transported frankincense and myrrh, which were aromatic resins produced in southern Arabia (modern Yemen and Oman), that were highly valued in the ancient world. They also transported spices, gold, textiles, bitumen, salt, and precious stones.

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Their incense route went from northwestern Arabia (around modern-day Hejaz) and entered Edom and the Negev to Petra, which was the Nabatean capital and a major trading hub. From there goods were transported to Avdat, a fortified station in the Negev, Mampsis (Mamshit) and Shivta (Sobata), Nabatean caravan towns and resting points, and Haluza (Elusa), which was last major stop before the Mediterranean port of Gaza. From Gaza, goods were exported to Egypt, Greece, and Rome.

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By the 1st century CE, Rome opened maritime routes through the Red Sea to India and Arabia. Sea transport was faster and cheaper than desert caravans and this undercut the Nabateans’ control of overland commerce. Their economy weakened, and their political leverage declined. In 106 CE, the Roman Emperor Trajan peacefully annexed the Nabatean Kingdom and turned it into the province of Arabia Petraea.

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The towns of Avdat, Shivta, and Mamshit continued to prosper under Roman and later Byzantine rule, and transitioned into agricultural frontier towns, but not as trade centers.

Their great accomplishment was transforming the desert into productive farmland by capturing seasonal floodwaters and channeling them into controlled irrigation. This enabled the cultivation of vineyards, wheat and barley, olive orchards and pasture for livestock.

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The Nabatean language gradually gave way to Greek and later Arabic, although inscriptions continued for a few centuries. By the 4th century CE, the Nabateans had assimilated into the broader Greco-Roman culture and later into the Byzantine culture. Concomitant with developments in the Roman Empire, their cities became Christian.

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Even though desert, the Negev was not empty of people prior to the Nabateans. From the 2nd millennium to the 10th century BCE, the Amalekites operated in the Negev, northern Sinai and Aravah. They engaged in raiding and were mobile pastoralists. Their military power was broken by Saul and David. From the 10th to 4th centuries BCE, the desert corridor was occupied by nomadic or semi-nomadic peoples. These included the Edomites or Idumeans. From the 6th century BCE, the Edomites expanded into the Negev, especially after Babylon destroyed the country of Judah. They controlled the Aravah copper mines. There were also Midianites and Qedarites, an Arab tribal federation from northern Arabia that controlled portions of the incense trade.

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The collapse of Edom under Babylonian and then Persian domination allowed Arab nomadic tribes from the east, including the Nabateans, to move into the vacuum. The Nabateans were initially mobile desert traders, but over the 3rd to 2nd centuries BCE they took over Petra from the remaining Edomite population, established a structured network for the incense trade, and gradually transitioned from nomadism to a kingdom.