Difference between revisions of "Nabateans"

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*ANCIENT SOURCES: see [[Nabateans (sources)]]
#REDIRECT [[:Category:Nabateans (subject)]]
*SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see [[:Category:Nabateans (subject)]]
 
 
The '''Nabateans''' were a Semitic population living in Southern Jordan and the northern part of Arabia.
 
See also [[Nabatean Kings]], and [[Nabatean Cities]].
 
==Overview==
 
In the Greek and Roman Period the Nabateans created a powerful kingdom at the borders of the land of Israel. They had control of the [[Incense Route]], the commercial route connecting the Arabian peninsula to Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. The Nabatean capital [[Petra]] served as a strategic place of reloading, with one route crossing the desert of [[Negev]] to the Mediterranean port of [[Gaza]], and another leading through [[Bosra]] and [[Damascus]] to [[Mesopotamia]] in the east and [[Phoenicia]] in the west.
 
Obscure are the origins of the Nabateans as a nomadic group of Arabic tribes. Only in the 2nd century a Nabatean kingdom was created in the area. The Nabateans supported the [[Maccabees]] in their fight against the [[Seleucids]] but then resisted to the expansion of the [[Hasmonean Kings]]. Eventually they fought back and [[Alexander Jannaeus]] experienced some devastating defeats. The conflict between [[John Hyrcanus II]] and [[Aristobulos II]] gave the Nabateans the opportunity to besiege Jerusalem in support to Hyrcanus, but [[Pompey]] was quick to take their place, sending his general [[Scaurus]] to help Hyrcanus but also to push the Nabatean army back to their land.
 
The Nabateans then switch alliance and in 40 BCE supported [[Aristobulus II]] and his Parthian allies. [[Herod the Great]] succeeded in regaining control of the land of Israel on behalf of the Romans and built a series of fortresses to protect the border with the Nabateans. The hostility with the Herods continued in spite of any attempt at a reconciliation, even when they were both allies of the Romans. [[Herod Antipas]] married the daughter of the Nabatean King [[Aretas IV]]. The divorce resulted in war; Herod Antipas was defeated in battle but the Roman Emperor immediately dispatched the governor of Syria to protect their ally. 
 
The Romans made no attempt to subdue directly the Nabateans. They soon realized the origins of the Nabatean trade and gradually built an alternative route to Arabia from Egypt. When the Nabateans lost their monopoly, their economic and military power began to fade. In 106 CE the Nabatean kingdom was absorbed into the Roman Empire without a fight. As part of the new province of [[Arabia Petrae]], the [[Nabatean Cities]] continued to flourished in the centuries to come.
 
==The Nabateans in ancient sources==
 
==The Nabateans in Scholarship==
 
==The Nabateans in Fiction==
 
==References==
 
*History of the Nabatean Kings / Schurer/Vermes / 1 (1973) 574-586
 
==External links==
 
*[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nabataeans Wikipedia]




Latest revision as of 06:01, 28 July 2012

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