NABATAEANS năb’ ə tē ənz (Ναβαταῖοι). The Nabataeans, a powerful people who occupied the northwestern part of Arabia and Trans-Jordan in the NT period, are not mentioned directly in the OT or NT. Jean Starcky has shown that Biblical Nebayoth (Gen 25:13; 1 Chron 1:29) and the Nabayat of the Assyrian chronicles cannot be identified with the Nabataeans (BA 18 [1955], pp. 85f.). However, non-Biblical sources and archeological evidence indicate that during the inter-testamentary period and esp. in the 1st cent. of the Christian era the Nabataeans were a significant political power in the Near E. The Nabataeans usually are associated with the magnificent ruins of Petra, SE of the Dead Sea, but their political domain extended at times west to the Negev and N as far as Damascus. Their origin seems to be among the Arab tribes inhabiting southern Arabia.

Located in the territory of ancient Edom, the Nabataeans controlled some of the rich trade routes linking the major areas of the Fertile Crescent. The first historical reference to them is in connection with their refusal to recognize the authority of Antigonus, the successor of Alexander the Great in this area. Attempts to subjugate the Nabataeans were unsuccessful.

The classical period or Golden Age of the Nabataeans was the 1st cent. b.c. and the 1st cent. of this era. In this period they settled extensively in the lands once occupied by the Edomites and Moabites and intensively cultivated the soil. In addition, they incorporated the Negev and Sinai into their kingdom. In this period they developed a brilliant civilization with a dynamic creativity and speed scarcely paralleled in history. The sudden end came with the Rom. conquest in the beginning of the 2nd cent.

Josephus and a few inscrs. provide some information about certain Nabataean kings. The first king mentioned in the sources is Aretas I, ruler in the 2nd cent. b.c. at the time of the Maccabean Revolt. About 100 b.c. Aretas II ruled the Nabataeans and expanded the territory of his kingdom at the expense of the waning Seleucid power in Pal. Aretas II was succeeded by his son, Obadas I, who recovered much of Moab and Gilead from the Hasmonean ruler of Pal., Alexander Jannaeus, whom he defeated in battle about 90 b.c. Under Aretas III, the Nabataeans became a powerful and independent nation in Trans-Jordan and withstood Rom. domination for the next cent. and a half, in spite of attempts by the Romans and the Herodians to subjugate them. In this period their greatest king was Aretas IV Philodemus who ruled from 9 b.c. to a.d. 40. Although assisting the Romans in subduing the Jews upon the death of Herod the Great, Aretas initially had good relations with Herod Antipas, son of Herod the Great and tetrarch of Perea and Galilee, who married Aretas’ daughter. About a.d. 27 Herod Antipas divorced her in favor of his brother’s wife Herodias. This led to two troublesome conflicts in Herod’s life. The first was with John the Baptist who roundly denounced him for his marital activity (Matt 14:3-5; Mark 6:17-20; Luke 3:19, 20). Later Herodias got her revenge on the occasion of Herod’s rash promise to her daughter (Matt 14:6-12; Mark 6:21-29). The other conflict was with Aretas IV, the father of his first wife. In a.d. 36 Aretas defeated Herod in battle and regained much territory, possibly as far N as Damascus. An attempt by the Romans to avenge Herod by an attack on Aretas foundered upon the death of Emperor Tiberius.

At the time of Paul’s escape from Damascus following his conversion (Acts 9:23-25), an ethnarch of Aretas was guarding the city (2 Cor 11:32f.). The exact nature of the Nabataean control of Damascus is not known, but this does indicate some type of Nabataean military or police control of the city. Successors of Aretas IV included Malichus II (a.d. 40-70) and Rabbel II, the last king of the Nabataeans who died in a.d. 106. During the reign of Trajan, the legate of Syria, A. Cornelius Palma, in a campaign in a.d. 105 to 106 annexed Nabataea to the Rom. empire. Bostra became the capital of the new province called Arabia. This was the beginning of the Era of Bostra, frequently used in the datelines of inscrs. in this area in subsequent centuries.

The most extensive ruins of the Nabataeans are found at Petra, S of the Dead Sea. In this valley surrounded by virtually impassable mountains are the ruins which illustrate the unique type of architecture developed by the Nabataeans. The structures were carved into the living rock and reveal a remarkable engineering skill. The typical Nabataean facade consists of a row of pillars (carved in situ) with niches containing sculptures between the pillars which support a crossbeam decorated with a frieze. Above this is a split gable with a domed structure in the middle similar to an inverted urn. The pendantive type of dome may have been developed by the Nabataeans (Safwan K. Tell, Annual of the Department of Antiquities of Jordan 14 [1969], pp. 35-37 [Arab.]). They had a unique method of dressing stones—lines cut diagonally across the face of the stone or rock face. Most of the rock-hewn structures in Petra appear to be mausoleums in connection with a cult of the dead, rather than temples. Another major Nabataean site is located on Jebel et-Tannur (excavated by Nelson Glueck in 1937), SE of the Dead Sea, where a series of successive sanctuaries with numerous carved figures and designs were uncovered—perhaps the most significant being the statues of Zeus-Hadad and the goddess Atargatis.

The Nabataeans have made a unique contribution to Palestinian ceramic ware. “Nabataean ware” is very thin and smooth—almost like porcelain. The shapes were beautifully symmetrical, often with delicate decorations in dark brown or black paint on the red ware. The material is so characteristic that the presence of a small sherd on a site strongly suggest Nabataean occupation.

Prior to the discovery of the DSS which includes some papyri in Nabataean, the only literary remains in Nabataean were some inscrs. and graffiti in Sinai and Trans-Jordan, esp. in Petra. Nabataean was a form of Aram. with a strong Arab. influence. The Nabataean papyri, dated in the 1st cent. of the Christian era, provide new data for the study of the dialect and Aram. The script developed by the Nabataeans is similar to the Heb. script of the time, but the letters are strangely elongated vertically—a practice which allows for close packing of the letters.

The principal Nabataean deity was a god named Dushara (Hellenized form, Dushares), symbolized by a block of stone or obelisk. At Tannur the chief god was Hadad, the Syrian storm-god, equivalent of the Gr. Zeus. Atargatis, equivalent of the Gr. Artemis, appears to have been a type of fertility goddess. Evidence of the religious practices of the Nabataeans can be seen in the “high places” (openair sanctuaries of the gods), such as the Conway High Place and the Great High Place of Robinson at Petra, with processional ways, altars, and pools or lavers. Places for the ritual sacrifice of animals are also found, e.g., above Ed Deir in Petra.

As archeological research continues, esp. in the Negev and Trans-Jordan, more information can be expected about the Nabataeans who in many respects were one of the most remarkable and vigorous people in the eastern Mediterranean world during the Rom. period.