Battle of Gadara

Battle of Gadara
Alexander Jannaeus minted on a coin.
Date 93 BC Location Gadara, Transjordan 32°39′00″N 35°41′00″E / 32.650000°N 35.683333°E / 32.650000; 35.683333 Result Nabataean victory Territorial changes Loss of territories in Transjordan previously gained by the Hasmoneans to the Nabataeans
Belligerents
Hasmonean dynasty	Nabataean Kingdom
Commanders and leaders
Alexander Jannaeus	Obodas I
Location within Jordan

Battle of Gadara was fought between the Judaean Hasmoneans and the Arab Nabataeans around 93 BC in Gadara in modern-day Jordan.

The battle came after the Nabataeans felt threatened by the Hasmonean King Alexander Jannaeus's territorial acquisitions of Gaza and several towns north of Nabataea in Transjordan, along the road to Damascus where the Greek Seleucids were stationed (the Seleucids were in terminal decline at the time).

Jannaeus was "lucky to escape alive" back to Jerusalem after the Nabataean King Obodas I managed to ambush his forces on a steep hill, thought to be the hills surrounding the Yarmouk River. Jannaeus returned to fierce Jewish opposition in Jerusalem after his defeat, and had to cede the acquired territories to the Nabataeans so that he could dissuade them from supporting his opponents in Judea.

The Nabataeans had maintained a friendly relationship with the neighboring Jewish Maccabees to the west, whose successors founded the Hasmonean dynasty.Alexander Jannaeus, the Hasmonean king, had besieged and captured Gaza around 100 BC. Jannaeus is thought to have punished the Gazans for their support to the Greek Ptolemies in Egypt over the Hasmoneans during their wars. Jannaeus then continued his father John Hyrcanus's conquests in Transjordan, where he captured Gadara, Amathus, Moab and Gilead.