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Sea. Josephus suggests, and Jerome, apparently following him, affirms, that the name is identical with that of the Ishmaelite tribe of Nebaioth (Gen. xxv. 13; Isa. 1x. 7), which in later Old Testament times had a leading See also:

PLACE (through Fr. from Lat. platea, street; Gr. IrAar6s, wide)

place among the See also:

NORTHERN

northern See also:

ARABS

Arabs, and is associated with Kedar (Isa. lx. 7) much as See also:

Pliny v. rr (12) associates Nabataei and Cedrei. The See also:

IDENTIFICATION (Lat. idem, the same)

identification is rendered uncertain by the fact that the name Nabataean is properly spelled with t not t (on the See also:

INSCRIPTIONS (from Lat. inscribere, to write upon)

inscriptions, cf. also Arabic Nabat, Nabit, &c.). Thus the See also:

HISTORY

history of the Nabataeans cannot certainly be carried back beyond 3 r 2 B.C., at which date they were attacked without success by Antigonus I. Cyclops in their See also:

mountain fortress of See also:

PETRA (r)

Petra.

They are described by Diodorus (xix. 94 seq.) as being at this time a strong tribe of some io,000 warriors, pre-eminent among the nomadic Arabs, eschewing See also:

agriculture, fixed houses and the use of See also:

WINE (Lat. vinum, Gr. oivos)

wine, but adding to See also:

PASTORAL (from Lat. pastor, a shepherd)

pastoral pursuits a profitable See also:

trade with the seaports in See also:

MYRRH (from the Latinized form myrrha of Gr. µuppa; the Arabic murr, bitter, was applied to the substance from its bitterness)

myrrh and spices from Arabia See also:

Felix, as well as a trade with See also:

EGYPT

Egypt in See also:

BITUMEN

bitumen from the Dead Sea. Their arid See also:

COUNTRY (from the Mid. Eng. contre or contrie, and O. Fr. cuntree; Late Lat. contrata, showing the derivation from contra, opposite, over against, thus the tract of land which fronts the sight, cf. Ger. Gegend, neighbourhood)

country was the best safeguard of their cherished See also:

LIBERTY (Lat. libertas, from liber, free)

liberty; for the See also:

BOTTLE (Fr. bouteille, from a diminutive of the Lat. butta, a flask; cf. Eng. " butt ")

bottle-shaped cisterns for See also:

RAIN (O.E. regn; the word is common to Teutonic languages, cf. Ger. Regen, Swed. and Dan. regn; it has been connected with Lat. rigare, to wet, Gr. 13pixeav)

rain-See also:

WATER

water which they excavated in the rocky or argillaceous See also:

SOIL

soil were. carefully concealed from invaders. Petra (q.v.) or Seta' was the ancient See also:

capital of See also:

EDOM

Edom; the Nabataeans must have occupied the old Edomite country, and succeeded to its See also:

commerce, after the Edomites took See also:

ADVANTAGE

advantage of the Babylonian captivity to See also:

PRESS (through Fr. presse from Lat. pressare, frequentative of premere, to crush, squeeze, press)

press forward into See also:

SOUTHERN

southern See also:

JUDAEA

Judaea.' This See also:

MIGRATION

migration, the date of which cannot be determined, also made them masters of the shores of the Gulf of 'See also:

ALPHA

Alpha and the important See also:

HARBOUR (from M.E. hereberge, here, an army; cf. Ger. Heer and -beorg, protection or shelter. Other early forms in English were herberwe and haiborow, as seen in various place names, such as Market Harborough.. The French auberge, an inn, derived through

harbour of Elath. Here, according to See also:

AGATHARCHIDES, or AGATHARCHUS

Agatharchides (Geog. Gr. See also:

Min., i. 178), they were for a time very troublesome, as wreckers and pirates, to the reopened commerce between Egypt and the See also:

East, till they were chastised by the See also:

Greek sovereigns of See also:

Alexandria. The Nabataeans had already some See also:

TINCTURE (Fr. teinture, Lat. tinctura, tingere, to dye, stain)

tincture of See also:

FOREIGN

foreign culture when they first appear in history. That culture was naturally Aramaic; they wrote a See also:

LETTER (through Fr. lettre from Lat. littera or litera, letter of the alphabet; the origin of the Latin word is obscure; it has probably no connexion with the root of linere, to smear, i.e. with wax, for an inscription with a stilus)

letter to Antigonus " in See also:

SYRIAC

Syriac letters," and Aramaic continued to be the See also:

LANGUAGE (adapted from the Fr. langage, from langue, tongue, Lat. lingua)

language of their coins and inscriptions when the tribe See also:

GREW, NEHEMIAH (1641-1712)

grew into a See also:

KINGDOM

kingdom, and profited by the decay of the Seleucids to extend its See also:

BORDERS, THE

borders northward over the more fertile country east of the See also:

Jordan. They occupied Ilauran, and about 85 B.c. their See also:

king See also:

ARETAS (Arab. Haritha)

Aretas (Haritha) became See also:

lord of See also:

DAMASCUS

Damascus and Coele-Syria. See also:

ALLIES, THOMAS WILLIAM (1813-1903)

Allies of the first Hasmonaeans in their struggles against the Greeks (r Macc. v.

25, ix. 35; 2 Macc. v. 8), they became the rivals of the Judaean See also:

DYNASTY (Gr. &vvaareta, sovereignty, the position of a hevnori7r, lord, ruler, from SuvaaBay to be able, Suvaµas, power)

dynasty in the See also:

period of its splendour, and a See also:

CHIEF (from Fr. chef, head, Lat. caput)

chief See also:

ELEMENT (Lat. elementum)

element in the disorders which invited See also:

POMPEY

Pompey's intervention in See also:

PALESTINE

Palestine. The See also:

ROMAN

Roman arms were not very successful, and King Aretas retained his whole possessions, including Damascus, as a Roman ' See EnoM, and (for the view that Mal. i. 1-5, refers to the See also:

EXPULSION (Lat. expulsio, from expellere)

expulsion of Edomites from their land) MALAcxi. See also:

VASSAL (Fr. vassal, vassaut, vassault, &c,)

vassal.' As " allies " of the See also:

Romans the Nabataeans continued to flourish throughout the first See also:

Christian See also:

CENTURY (from Lat. centuria, a division of a hundred men)

century. Their See also:

POWER [WILLIAM GRATTAN] TYRONE (1797-1841)

power extended far into Arabia, particularly along the Red Sea; and Petra was a See also:

MEETING (from " to meet," to come together, assemble, 0. Eng. metals ; cf. Du. moeten, Swed. mota, Goth. gamotjan, &c., derivatives of the Teut. word for a meeting, seen in O. Eng. Wit, moot, an assembly of the people; cf. witanagemot)

meeting-place of many nations, though its commerce was diminished by the rise of the Eastern trade-route from Myoshormus to See also:

COPTOS (Egyptian Keft, Kebto)

Coptos on the See also:

Nile. Under the Roman See also:

peace they lost their warlike and nomadic habits, and were a sober, acquisitive, orderly people, wholly See also:

INTENT (from Lat. intend ere, to stretch out, extend, particularly in the phrase intendere animum, to turn one's mind to, purpose)

intent on trade and agriculture (See also:

STRABO (born c. 63 n.c.)

Strabo xvi. 4). They might have See also:

long been a See also:

BULWARK (a word probably of Scandinavian origin, from bol or bole, a tree-trunk, and werk, work, in Ger. Bollwerk, which has also been derived from an old German bolen, to throw, and so a machine for throwing missiles)

bulwark between See also:

Rome and the See also:

WILD, JONATHAN (c. 1682-1725)

wild hordes of the See also:

DESERT

desert but for the See also:

SHORT, FRANCIS JOB (1857– )

short-sighted cupidity of See also:

TRAJAN [MARCUS ULPIUS TRAJANUS] (A. D. 53-117)

Trajan, who reduced Petra and See also:

broke up the Nabataean See also:

NATIONALITY

nationality (105 A.D.). The new Arab invaders who soon pressed forward into their seats found the remnants of the Nabataeans transformed into felldhan, and speaking Aramaic like their neighbours. Hence Nabataeans became the Arabic name for Aramaeans, whether in Syria or See also:

IRAK

Irak, a fact which has been incorrectly held to prove that the Nabataeans were origin-ally Aramaean immigrants from.

Babylonia. It is now known, however, that they were true Arabs—as the proper names on their inscriptions show—who had come under Aramaic See also:

INFLUENCE (Late Lat. influentia, from influere, to flow in)

influence. See especially on this last point (against See also:

QUATREMERE, ETIENNE MARC (1782-1857)

Quatremere, Journ. asiat. xv., vol. ii., 1835), See also:

Noldeke in Zeit. d. morgenleind. Gesell. xvii. 7o5 seq., xxv. 122 seq. The so-called " Nabataean Agriculture " (Falaha Nabatiya), which professes to be an Arabic See also:

TRANSLATION

translation by See also:

Ibn \Vahshiya from an ancient Nabataean source, is a See also:

FORGERY (derived through the French from Latin fabricare, to construct)

forgery of the loth century (see A. von See also:

GUTSCHMID, ALFRED, BARON VON (1835-1887)

Gutschmid, Z. d. morgenl. Ges. xv. 1 seq.; Noldeke, ib. See also:

XXIX

xxix. 445 seq.). See also:

COMPLETE

Complete See also:

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL

bibliographical See also:

INFORMATION (from Lat. informare, to give shape or form to, to represent, describe)

information is given by E. Scharer in his See also:

SKETCH (directly adapted from Dutch schets, which was taken from Ital. schizzo, a rough draft, Lat. schedium, something hastily made, Gr. oxE&os, sudden, off-hand, axeb6v, near by; Ger. Skizze and Fr. esquisse are from the same source)

sketch of Nabataean history appended to Gesch. d.

Jiid. Volkes (1901, vol. i.; cf. Eng. edition, 189o, i. 2, pp. 345 sqq.) ; to this may be added the See also:

ARTICLE (from Lat. articulus, a joint)

article by H. See also:

Vincent, Rev. bibl. vii. 567 sqq., and, for more See also:

general information, R. Dussaud, See also:

Les Arabes en Syrie (1907). For See also:

early See also:

EXTERNAL

external See also:

EVIDENCE (Lat. evidentia, evideri, to appear clearly)

evidence see H. \'Vinckler, Neil. u. Alte Test.' p. 151 seq.; M.

Streck, Mitteil. d. vorderasiat. Gesell. (1906). pt. iii., and Klio, 1906, p.206seq. The Nabataean inscriptions (see SEMITIC See also:

LANGUAGES

LANGUAGES) are collected in the Corpus Inscr. Semiticarunz of the See also:

French See also:

Academy, pt. ii.; see also the Academy's Repertoire d'ipigr. sent.; and the discussions, &c.,• in the writings of Clermont-Ganneau (Rec. d'archeol. Orient.) and M. Lidzbarski (Handbuch d. See also:

NORD

nord-semit. Epig.; See also:

EPHEMERIS (Greek for a " diary ")

Ephemeris f. scnz. Epig.). For See also:

ENGLISH

English readers the selection in G. A. See also:

Cooke, See also:

North-Semitic Inscriptions (See also:

Oxford, 1903) is the most useful.

(W. R. S.; S. A.

End of Article: NABATAEANS

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