What became of the Nabataeans and the Petra ruins? What Roman historians have reported about these desert nomads is in conflict with recent discoveries.

In a single fight in 312 B.C., the camel-mounted warriors of Nabataea slaughtered ruthlessly close to 4,600 Greek soldiers. At the intersection of Africa, Europe, and Asia, Nabataean traders had a monopoly on commerce along the Silk Road for hundreds of years. Additionally, only the Nabataeans knew where the porters' hidden provisions and water reservoirs were.

The mighty Nabataean civilization finally "peacefully" ended in the year 106 A.D. Or was it? The Nabataeans were "annexed" by Rome, according to ancient Roman chroniclers, with little resistance. However, more recent archeological findings imply that this culture's demise could not have been as benign as the Romans believed.

What actually transpired to the Nabataeans, then? How did this culture that treasured liberty and the vastness of the desert above all other comforts come to its doom? Let's begin by learning more about the Nabataeans.

The Nabataeans: Who Were They?

Around 400 B.C., a unique society of affluent desert nomads known as the Nabataeans first developed in what is now Jordan. As local traders and respected desert porters for hundreds of years, the Nabataeans amassed enormous wealth.

The Nabateans exploited their expertise of the desert to transfer things like frankincense, myrrh, bitumen (pitch or tar), and spices from one end of their empire to the other while charging as much as 25% on top of the goods they handled.

Despite their success, the Nabataeans weren't always admired by their neighbors. Diodorus, a Roman historian who lived between 30 and 20 B.C., called the Nabataeans "pillagers" and "pirates."

The Petra Ruins

Unfortunately, the Nabataeans did not leave many written records of themselves, but they did give us some significant hints. An everlasting witness to the tremendous wealth, power, and cultural sophistication of the Nabataeans over the last two centuries B.C. is their spectacular architecture, which was etched into the ruins of Petra. They were obviously much more than just robbers, pirates, and nomadic bandits.

As stated by Brown University, "Nabataean Classical monuments reflect the international character of the Nabataean economy through their combination of native tradition and the classical spirit." The architectural works in Petra's ruins today are distinctly influenced by Egyptian, Greek, and other cultures.

The so-called Safaitic inscriptions, which are old writings cut into rock in the regions of northern Arabia, have also been found by archaeologists. Some of these inscriptions provide significant hints as to the truth of Nabataean history, a truth that ancient chroniclers largely overlooked or were unaware of.

The Nabataean Empire's demise

We can see that Nabataea may have fallen because of jealousy from the beginning. In the years prior to 100 B.C., the Greeks made multiple well-known attempts to conquer the Nabataeans but were unsuccessful due to their desire for Nabataean supremacy over Silk Road trade.

The Nabataeans developed in power and wealth despite their conflicts with the Greeks. Rome was nevertheless gaining ground in the area. Nabataea and Rome would soon join forces, with Nabataea becoming Rome's vassal state and paying taxes to it. Rome and Nabataea collaborated as military allies in Egypt and Arabia at this time.

The Great Pompey

The Roman General Pompey conquered the Armenians in Damascus in the mid-60s B.C. after the Armenians acquired control of the city from the Nabataeans in around 70 B.C. Pompey the Great, as he is better known, then turned his attention to Petra.

The Nabataean monarch, Aretas III, was permitted to continue in office and even keep Damascus by General Pompey rather than simply conquering the people. In exchange, the Nabataean state agreed to pay taxes to Rome as an imperial vassal state.

Was Nabataea's conquest peaceful or not?

Following Pompey's operations, Roman dominance in the region around Nabataea rose to such a degree that, in 30 B.C., they finally conquered Egypt. The Nabataeans maintained as an independent, tax-paying client state of Rome despite being encircled by Roman territory.

Trajan, a Roman emperor

They remained together until they fell prey to Trajan the Roman Emperor in the year 106. According to historians, Rome decided to include Nabataea in its Arabia Petraea province after the passing of the last Nabataean monarch, Rabbel II Soter, in A.D. 106.

Did the Nabataeans use violence to stave off the Romans? Numerous historians have traditionally held the belief that the Roman conquest was peaceful, including early Roman chroniclers.

However, a recent study by Paolo Cimadomo at the University of Haifa suggests that the Nabataeans may have aggressively opposed the Romans, maybe for hundreds of years after the conquest of Petra. Was it to remove the Nabataean name from these recently conquered regions that the Romans gave the province Arabia Petraea?

Rabbel II Soter

According to Cimadomo, Rabbel II Soter had two genuine claimants to the Nabataean throne who might not have relinquished the throne willingly. Several Safaitic inscriptions, which are ancient writings cut into rock in the Nabataean region, are also cited by Cimadomo. These writings speak of a "war of the Nabataeans" and "the year of the struggle between the Romans and the Nabataeans."

One inscription described "the year [in which] Malichos King of Nabataea smote thirty centuries (three thousand) of Roman soldiers." Why do Roman historians not mention this conflict?

The Lost City of Petra

It's challenging to determine exactly what happened to the Nabataeans, as it is with any mysteries from antiquity. It seems completely feasible that they went back to the desert life they loved, though, when you consider the freedom-loving nature of this ancient nomadic tribe, which valued the great expanse of the desert over the comforts of household life.

The Nabataeans may have mounted a defense using surprise raids and guerrilla-style assaults from the safety of the desert. Additionally, the terrible response of the Nabataeans, when they killed approximately 4,600 Greek soldiers in 317 B.C., lends credence to the idea that they would not have ceded their throne easily.

Cimadomo asserts that "the area [near Petra] was never completely suppressed and was to prove a continuous and ultimately unresolved problem for Roman governors, as testified by later literary sources."

Any Nabataean opposition that might have existed in the years after Petra's collapse did not prevent the Roman emperor Hadrian from visiting Petra in A.D. 131 and renaming the city Hadriane Petra in his honor.

Even though the Nabataeans caused a lot of trouble for the Romans, the lost city of Petra is no longer there to tell us the truth, save from their collapsed structures and a few stone sculptures in the desert.