The Nabataea people emerged in the 4th century BC, they were a Nomadic tribe of Arabs who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant, they gradually migrated from the Arabian parts during the 6th century and settled mostly in the southern place of Jordan, which held the capital of Raqmu, which is this day Petra.
They worshipped the god Dushara and Al-Uzza, Dushara is coined from the Arabic Dhu-ash-Shara which means one of shara, mountain southeast of petra, the eagle was the sign of their god because it was associated with the heavens, the god was also likened to as the god of the sun. They inputted images of the eagle in most of their artworks.
They spoke a language of Arabic and later adopted Aramaic
All through the Nabataea people’s existence, they operated a democratic society, in writings of the Roman Scholar Strabo he documented that the Nabataean kingdom was ruled by a royal family, although a strong spirit of democracy thrived amongst them, he added there was no form of slavery among them, none of the royals or high in the society had slaves, each of them shared in work duties.
Their community was a lawful community without stated lawmakers. Over time they began to engage in mouldings and architecture, they carved out grandiose building, temples, and tombs from strong sandstone rock, from it they also constructed a wall to protect their city, they also moulded pot ceramics and painted them in a stylish distinctive way which was later adopted by the Greco-Roman empire.
The dessert land around them caused them to devise means to channel water into their city, they became skilful water engineers and constructed an extensive system of dams, reservoirs, ditches, pipes, and canal which irrigated their land.
Moreso, they began to establish their place in the trade markets, they traded mostly in goods such as gold, iron, copper, sugar, ivory, perfumes, spices, copper, fabrics and incense e.t.c, the list was endless. The more they engaged in the trade markets they became more skilful which facilitated commerce between them and ancient China, India, Egypt, Syria, Greece, and Rome, making their kingdom a wealthy commercial crossroads between the Assyrian, Egyptian, Greek, Arabian, and the Roman empire, the trade markets influenced interrelationships between these empires which fostered relationships and bonds that helped to boost the various economies.
The Nabateans developed in wealth and power and began to expand into Syria which was a neighbouring kingdom, in about 150 BCE, which caused the Hellenistic culture existent in Syria at that time to influence their culture, it influenced their art and architecture.
The Nabatean Kingdom remained independent and untouched all through their reign, flourishing in wealth and power up until Rome launched an attack on them led by Trajan in 106 AD, making it part of the roman empire after this most were converted into Christians during the Byzantine Era, most stopped speaking Aramaic and began to speak greek, with time the culture began to fade into thin air.
The Nabateans were a people of great culture and intellect, one history could never erase.
