Nabataeans: Map & History
The Nabataeans, also spelled Nabateans, were an ancient Arab people who inhabited the southern Levant and northern Arabia.
Wikipedia Encyclopedic Compendium
Historiographical synthesis & structured realm registry
The Nabataeans, also spelled Nabateans, were an ancient Arab people who inhabited the southern Levant and northern Arabia. Their settlements—most prominently the assumed capital city of Raqmu —gave the name Nabatene to the Arabian borderland that stretched from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. The Nabateans emerged as a distinct civilization and political entity between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC, with the Nabataean Kingdom centered around a loosely controlled trading network that brought considerable wealth and influence across the ancient world.
Modern Countries Once Part of Nabataeans
At its mapped extent, Nabataeans covered territory in 3 present-day countries. The period shown is when the mapped borders include that country, and the note says how much of it.
Largest Present-Day Cities in Its Territory
Each opens on the live map inside Nabataeans's borders of that time.
Derived by testing mapped cities against this polity's dated territorial polygons, so the list is indicative and follows the borders in the source dataset.
Nabataeans in Depth
History
The Nabataeans were an Arab tribe who had come under significant Babylonian-Aramaean influence. The first mention of the Nabataeans dates from 312/311 BC, when they were attacked at Sela or perhaps at Petra without success by the Hellene-Greek Antigonus I's officer Athenaeus in the course of the Third War of the Diadochi; at that time Hieronymus of Cardia, a Seleucid officer, mentions the Nabataeans in a battle report. About 50 BC Greek historian Diodorus Siculus cites Hieronymus in his report and adds the following: "Just as the Seleucids had tried to subdue them, so the Romans made several attempts to get their hands on that lucrative trade.". The architecture has Hellenic influence.
Culture
Many examples of graffiti and inscriptions—largely of names and greetings—document the area of Nabataean culture, which extended as far north as the north end of the Dead Sea, and testify to widespread literacy; but except for a few letters no Nabataean literature has survived, nor was any noted in antiquity. Onomastic analysis has suggested that Nabataean culture may have had multiple influences. Classical references to the Nabataeans begin with Diodorus Siculus. They suggest that the Nabataeans' trade routes and the origins of their goods were regarded as trade secrets, and disguised in tales that should have strained outsiders' credulity.
Sections adapted from Wikipedia: Nabataeans (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Nabataeans Map Over Time
Dated world maps on which Nabataeans appears, with the other states of the time.
Nabataeans Timeline
Key historical inflections from foundation to peak territorial expansion
Expansion to peak recorded area of 126,171 km² in 109 BCE.
Nabataeans: Frequently Asked Questions
When did Nabataeans exist?
Nabataeans is dated to 164 BCE – 105 CE, in the Classical Antiquity era.
How large was Nabataeans at its peak?
At its peak in 109 BC Nabataeans covered about 126,171 km².
How did the map of Nabataeans change over time?
Nabataeans appears on 2 dated world maps in the atlas, from 100 BCE to 1 CE. Each shows its borders in that year next to the other states of the time.