Petra Jordan

Petra History

The Nabatean Kingdome Petra was once the capital of the Edomians and became the Nabataean capital in the 5th century BC. Despite the numerous wars which struck the Middle East. The Nabatean people were successful in maintaining their independence from the big conquerors. I.e. The Ptolomeans, Seleukideans. Hasmonaeans and the Romans. Only in the year 106 AD did Emperor Trajan order the annexation of the Nabataean kingdom to the Imperium Romanum. In order to found the provincial Arabia. The country of origin of the nomadic tribe of the Nabatian. As they described they described themselves in their inscriptions. Themselves in their inscriptions. Is difficult to define. The Saudi-Arabia scholar Fr. Starcky pointed for the first time to the tribe of the “nabat” and “nabat’el” in the “Onomasticon” of this very region. He continued explaining his theory by saying that the Nabataeans could never have developed the control of the water, the irrigations and the terrace cuture, except in a country like Yemen, where the dam of the wonders of the world. But according to Assyrian chronicles the Nabatu tribes also turned up in the north-east of Arabia. In a new study J. T. Milik was thus searching for the original country of the Nabataeans between Kuwait and Mesopotamia. He considered. Therefore, the mention of the god of Sabu in the Nabataean inscription. According to his opinion. This country was quite mountainous and difficult to reach. After comparing the descriptions of tow Roman geographers Strabo and Claudius Ptolomaeus he assumed that the country Sabu was situated geographically on the higher plateau of the more than 2000 m high mountain Muteir which rises east-southeast of Kuwait. However Strabo (first century AD) describes the Sabaean as a “very large tribe” (Geographike, X VI, 4, 19). Sabu is the name of a tribe which occurs at the Thamudians. the Safaitians, the Nabataeans and even in modern Jordan , and not the name of a geographical area. However, in the middle Ages the names Nabat and Anbat are used by the Arabs to describe the Aramaean-speaking farmers from Mesopotamia. As a consequence. Authors like Quatremere. Doubt the Arabic origin of the Nabataeans. On the other hand. Contineau remarked that their “Onomasticon”, their deities and especially their use of the article “al” all prove an Arabic origin and above all with regard to the religion major similarities with central Arabia are evident. For this reason contemporary scholars continue searching for their origin in the area between Mecca and Dedan (al-’Ula). However, researchs in the area of Arabia are still less worked out. According to Assyrian annals the Nabataeans could clearly have spread out into the north-east of Arabia; the Aramaean language was used for common communication and became the “lingua franca” in the Orient at the latest in the eighths century BC.

The Nabataeans Arrival at the Province Edom

In the sixth century BC the ravaged province Edom, which was struck by Assyrian and Neo-Babylonian deportations. Was occupied more and by the Arabic tribes. They controlled the spice trade. As they had to pay king Kambyses (530–522 BC) a tribute of thousand talents of incense (approximately 27 tons of it). Orotalt (Ruda), who was equivalent to Merkur, and Alilat-Urania or the divine Allat (according Herodot, III, 10) were regarded as their gods. Tow Arabic nomadic tribes related to the Nabataeans, i.e. Quedar and and Salamu. Were living in the south of Palestine (as recorded in the “Book of the Songs” by Abu al-Faraj al Isfahani). In the same text is descriptin of the caravans loaded with perfumes and how turned up from the desert (III.6). Anyway it seems that the Nabataeans entering into the provinces of Edom and south Palestine took place Quite took place quite peacefully since no signs of forcible destructions during the days of the Persians were found in the centre of Petra Jordan in the course of excavations in Umm al-Biyare nor in Tawilan in the north-east nor Buseira in the north. On the contrary, the British School of Archaeology noticed a continuity in the technique of ceramic during their excavations in Buseira. Even more, the holy shrine in Khirbet Tannour in Wadi Hesa remained to the Edomian god Qos. When Alexander the Great occupied the Harbour of Gaza he found large amounts of myrrh and essences of incense: he sent 500 talents of myrrh to his tutor Leonidas in memory of all the hopes he gave him in his childhood: it seems that indeed once during a sacrifice session Leonidas said to Alexander When seeing his hands full of incense ready to burn the following: “Alexander, as soon as you conquer the country which produces of such spices, you can use the essences up in this way but now you have to use them sparingly”. (Plutarch. Vies. Ix. 25. 6–7). There is on doubt that Arabia’s wealth was extremely demanded by the Greeks as well as by the Romans. Consequently Alexander’s generals put up bloody fights to gain possession of the orient.