Nabataeans

The Nabataeans or Nabateans (/ˌnæbəˈtiːənz/; Nabataean Aramaic: 𐢕𐢃𐢋𐢈‎, NBṬW, vocalized as Nabāṭū; Arabic: ٱلْأَنْبَاط, al-ʾAnbāṭ, singular النبطي, an-Nabaṭī; compare Ancient Greek: Ναβαταῖος, romanized: Nabataîos; Latin: Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[7] Their settlements—most prominently the assumed capital city of Raqmu (present-day Petra, Jordan)^[1]—gave the name Nabatene (Ancient Greek: Ναβατηνή, romanized: Nabatēnḗ) to the Arabian borderland that stretched from the Euphrates to the Red Sea.

"Nabataean" redirects here. For the languages, see Nabataean Arabic and Nabataean Aramaic.

The Nabateans emerged as a distinct civilization and political entity between the 4th and 2nd centuries BCE,^[8] with their kingdom centered around a loosely controlled trading network that brought considerable wealth and influence across the ancient world.

Described as fiercely independent by contemporary Greco-Roman accounts, the Nabataeans were annexed into the Roman Empire by Emperor Trajan in 106 CE. Nabataeans' individual culture, easily identified by their characteristic finely potted painted ceramics, was adopted into the larger Greco-Roman culture. They converted to Christianity during the Later Roman Era. They have been described as one of the most gifted peoples of the ancient world^[9]^[10]^[11] and one of the "most unjustly forgotten".^[12]^[8]

- Greek-Nabataean architect and engineer from Damascus, Roman Syria, who flourished during the 2nd century CE. his massive architectural output gained him immense popularity during his time. He is one of the few architects whose name survives from antiquity, and is credited with introducing several Eastern innovations to the Roman Imperial style, such as making the dome a standard.^[63]

Apollodorus of Damascus

Wahb'allahi - a first century stonemason who worked in the city of Hegra. Wahb'allahi was the brother of the stonemason 'Abdharetat and the father of 'Abd'obodat. He is named in an inscription as the responsible stonemason on the oldest datable grave in Hegra in the ninth year of the Nabataean king Aretas IV (1 BCE-CE).^[65]

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- a 1st-century Nabatean Stonemason who worked in the city of Hegra.^[66] He is named by inscriptions on five of the grave facades typical of Hegra as the executing craftsman. On the basis of the inscriptions, four of the facades can be dated to the reigns of kings Aretas IV and Malichus II. 'Abd'obodat was evidently a successful craftsman. He succeeded his father Wahb'allahi and his uncle 'Abdharetat in at least one workshop in the second generation of Nabatean architects. 'Abd'obodat is considered to be the main representative of one of the two main schools of the Nabataean stonemasons, to which his father, his uncle belonged. Two more grave facades are assigned to the school on the basis of stylistic investigations; 'Abd'obodat is probably to be regarded as the stonemason who carried out the work.^[67]

'Abd'obodat son of Wahballahi

'Aftah - a Nabatean stonemason who became prominent in the beginning of the third decade of the first century. 'Aftah is attested in inscriptions on eight of the grave facades in Hegra and one grave as the executing stonemason. The facades are dated to the late reign of King Aretas IV. On one of the facades he worked with Halaf'allahi, on another with Wahbu and Huru. A tenth facade without an inscription was attributed to the 'Aftah sculpture school due to technical and stylistic similarities. He is the main representative of one of the two stonemason schools in the city of Hegra.

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Halaf'allahi - Nabatean stonemason who worked in the city of Hegra in the first century. Halaf'allahi is named in inscriptions on two graves in Hegra as the responsible stonemason in the reign of the Nabataean king Aretas IV. The first grave, which can be dated to the year 26-27 CE, was created together with the stonemason 'Aftah. He is therefore assigned to the workshop of the 'Aftah. Nabataean architects and sculptors were in reality contractors, who negotiated the costs of specific tomb types and their decorations. Tombs were therefore executed based on the desires and financial abilities of their future owners. The activities of Halaf'allahi offer an excellent example of this, as he had been commissioned with the execution of a simple tomb for a person who apparently belonged to the lower middle class. However, he was also in charge of completing a more sophisticated tomb for one of the local military officials.

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Raqmu () and Little Petra/Siq al-Barid

Petra

settlement and sanctuary

Khirbet edh-Dharih

temple

Khirbet et-Tannur

mountaintop site

Sela (Edom)

temple

Wadi Rum

List of Nabataean kings

ancient Arab tribe

Azd

Hecht Museum - Catalogues | The Nabateans in the Negev

Hecht Museum - Exhibitions | The Nabateans in the Negev

—links on Petra and the Nabataeans

The Bulletin of Nabataean Studies online

NABATÆANS in the Jewish Encyclopedia

—the only collection of ancient Nabataean art outside of Jordan

Cincinnati Art Museum

—Ancient Desert Agriculture Systems Revived (ADASR)

Archaeological Studies

—Canadian Museum of Civilization

Petra: Lost City of Stone Exhibition

Biblical Archaeology Review

"Solving the Enigma of Petra and the Nabataeans"

—Petra Crown

Nabataeans a nation civilization

—Ursula Hackl, Hanna Jenni, and Christoph Schneider