Battle of Cana

Battle of Cana
Minted Greek coins showing Antiochus XII
Date 84 BC Location Gadara Result Decisive Nabataean victory Seleucid king slain
Belligerents
Seleucid Empire	Nabataean Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Antiochus XII  †	Obodas I
Location within Jordan

Decisive Nabataean victory

The Battle of Cana was fought between Greek Seleucid king Antiochus XII Dionysus and the Arab Nabataean Kingdom. Scholars place it at a village called Cana in the city of Gadara in the north of modern-day Jordan.

After the Nabataeans ambushed the Judaean Hasmoneans in a steep valley, they gained new territories, and the Greek Seleucids stationed in Damascus felt threatened by the rising power of the Nabataeans to their south.

Antiochus was slain during the combat and the battle became a decisive Nabataean victory. Antiochus's demoralized army fled and perished from starvation in the desert afterwards.

The Port of Gaza was the last stop for spices that were carried by trade caravans from Eudaemon in today's Yemen, across the Arabian peninsula, passing through Petra and ending up in the Gaza for shipment to European markets. The Nabataean Kingdom had generated considerable wealth from the passing of this trading route through their territory and had considerable influence over the Gazans. The Hasmonean King of Judaea, Alexander Jannaeus, had besieged the city of Gaza around 100 BC. This came after the Gazans had favoured the Ptolemaic Kingdom over the Judaeans in their recent battles. Gaza was occupied and its inhabitants put to the sword by Jannaeus.

The capture of Gaza posed a threat to the Nabataean trade business and altered their previous neutral relationship with the Hasmoneans. The Hasmoneans under Jannaeus launched a campaign that captured several territories in Transjordan north of Nabataea, along the road to Damascus, including northern Moab and Gilead. Although these areas were not under direct control of the Nabataeans, the presence of the Judaeans posed a threat to Nabataean interests as they cut the communications and trade routes to Damascus which was then controlled by the Seleucid Empire. The Nabataean King, Obodas I, with the support of the Seleucid King Demetrius III, fought to restore these areas. Obodas managed to defeat Jannaeus during the Battle of Gadara around 93 BC, when he ambushed him and his forces in a steep valley where Jannaeus "was lucky to escape alive".