Nabateans (sources)
- DICTIONARY: see Nabateans
- SCHOLARLY AND FICTIONAL WORKS: see Category:Nabateans (subject)
This page includes ancient sources dealing with the people of the Nabateans.
Overview
Greco-Roman sources
Diodorus Siculus (1st cent. BCE)
The land (of Arabia) is situated between Syria and Egypt, and is divided among many peoples of diverse characteristics. Now the eastern parts are inhabited by Arabs, who bear the name of Nabateans and range over a country which is partly desert and partly waterless, though a small section of it is fruitful” (Bibliotheca II,48,1-2).
“Consequently the Arabs who inhabit this country, being difficult to overcome in war, remain always unenslaved; furthermore, they never at any time accept a man of another country as their overlord and continue to maintain their liberty unimpaired” (II,48,4).
“They are exceptionally fond of freedom...” (XIX,94,1).
“Some of them raise camels, others sheep, pasturing them in the desert. While there are many Arabian tribes who use the desert as pasture, the Nabateans 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 bringing down to the sea frankincense and myrrh and the most valuable kind of spices, which they procure from those who convey them from what is called Arabia Eudaemon”, i.e. Arabia, the Blessed (XIX, 94, 4-5).