Aside from their appearance in the historical records of the Greeks, Romans, and Egyptians, the Nabataeans did not keep their own historical records. This leaves much of their history and culture open to creative interpretation – including their origins.
The Nabataeans
What we do know is that the Nabataeans were a civilization of tent-dwelling nomads who amassed great wealth as merchants. Early accounts of the Nabataeans show that they lived as traders, porters, and nomads in the deserts of today’s Jordan, Syria, and Saudi Arabia – and inhabited the region as early as the 6th to 4th centuries BC.
SOabataean kingdom
Later, the Romans annexed the Nabataean kingdom in AD 106, and what was left of their history quickly disappeared into the sands of the Arab era.
The absence of clear historical records makes it difficult to speak with certainty of Nabataean origins. However, this does not prevent historians from sketching rough ideas about the origin of the Nabataeans.
The city of Petra
Carved into sandstone and hidden deep in a mountain crevasse, the opulence of Petra, the Nabataean capital often referred to as the Pink City, lies at the end of a 1,200 meter long narrow passage. This shady path, flanked by 100-meter-high pink sandstone canyon walls, suggests that the Nabataeans would rather be hidden than seen. They probably chose the rocky citadel of Petra as their capital because it allowed them to blend naturally into the desert environment while serving as a fortified stronghold to protect their goods from hostile neighbors, such as the Greeks and Romans.
Yet the Nabataeans did not come from the city of Petra. In fact, historians know that the Nabataeans lived as nomads in the northwestern regions of Arabia for hundreds of years before the first permanent structures appeared at Petra. In his job, Nabataeans and historyRobert Wenning writes:
“One gets the impression from Hieronymus of Cardia’s famous report on Petra and the Nabataeans that Petra in 311 BC. AD was not yet the seat of the tribe and certainly not the religious center of the Nabataeans. Therefore, one should not misinterpret the site during this period. It can be described as a campsite with a few people in charge of the incense shops and the herds of camels around […].”
“There is no reason to deny the nomadic nature of the Nabataeans. Archaeological evidence demonstrates that the Nabataeans lived primarily in tents and possibly in rock-cut caves until the Augustan period. [approximately 43 B.C. to A.D. 18] when they started building houses. Petra should be considered a great tent site for a long time in earlier times.
Nabataeans and Petra
It could further be argued that the Nabataeans – due to their love of freedom and preference for nomadic life – did not consider Petra their “home”, even at the height of its opulence. According Nabatéa.net, Petra could have had 20,000 to 30,000 inhabitants. But most lived in tents across the countryside, small villages, caravans or trading ships.
Regardless of the fact that the Nabataeans considered Petra a permanent residence, it is clear that they did not originate from the pink city. Instead, Petra became the focal point for these nomads for the practical reasons of needing a secure and protected stronghold for trade, commerce, and the organization of their vast desert kingdom.
Historians agree that nomadic Nabataeans inhabited northwestern Arabia at least through the 4th century BC and possibly as early as the 6th century BC So where did the Nabataeans come from before that time if not Petra?
4 Theories of Nabataean origin
Instead of trying to prove one theory of Nabataean origin over another, let’s look at the four most widely accepted theories offered by historians:
1. Theory of Arab origin
The most widely accepted theory among modern scholars is the Arabic origin theory. This theory, of which Jan Retsö speaks in the 1988 article “Nabataean origins – again“, suggests that the Nabataeans were an Arabian tribe that moved from southern Arabia and Yemen to northwestern Arabia and Jordan sometime during the 6th and 4th centuries BC. The Arabic origin theory is based on linguistic, cultural and historical evidence – including the fact that the Nabataeans spoke an Arabic dialect and engaged in a form of Arabic spirituality.
2. A confederation of tribes
The second most popular theory is that the Nabataeans were a confederation of Arabs, Aramaeans, Edomites, and other cultures and tribes who united under common leadership to form a kingdom. As described in Robert Wenning’s 2007 book cited above, Nabataeans in historythe theory is based on historical and genetic evidence suggesting that the Nabataeans interacted with and absorbed many cultures and peoples from the region – including the Edomites, Moabites, Ammonites, Hellenes and Romans.
3. Babylonian and Aramaic immigrants
Another theory is that the Nabataeans were a group of Babylonians and Aramaeans who emigrated to Arabia—perhaps for political and economic reasons—and eventually assumed Arab identity. This theory is described in JF Healey’s 2001 book, The religion of the Nabataeans, and it is based on archaeological and written evidence. According to Healey, the Nabataeans used a script derived from Aramaic and had contact with Babylonian culture, suggesting that they themselves may have been of Babylonian and Aramaic origin.
4. Persian Origin Theory
As explored in the 1997 work of DF Graf, Rome and the Arab border, the Persian origin theory claims that the Nabataeans were Persian settlers who settled in Arabia during the Achaemenid Empire (550 to 330 BC). The theory alleges that the colonists then rebelled against the empire. The theory makes historical sense but lacks direct evidence to support it.
Final Thoughts
Although it is not entirely clear where these well-to-do, cameleer, freedom-loving nomads came from, the theories presented in this article on Nabataean origins are the best we have today. Until other Nabataean mysteries are uncovered, we cannot be sure of anything.
Who knows, maybe in the not-too-distant future some adventurous archaeologist will unearth a repository of ancient Nabataean stories – written in Nabataean script and hidden deep within a pink mountain, just like Petra herself.