Nabataean Kingdom
| Nabataean Kingdom | ||||||||||
| المملكة النبطية | ||||||||||
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.svg) The Nabataean Kingdom at its greatest extent
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| Capital | Petra | |||||||||
| Languages |
Nabataean Arabic |
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| Religion | Arab polytheism | |||||||||
| Government | Monarchy | |||||||||
| King | ||||||||||
| • | 168–144 BC | Aretas I | ||||||||
| • | 140–120 BC | Rabbel I | ||||||||
| • | 120–96 BC | Aretas II | ||||||||
| • | 96–86 BC | Obodas I | ||||||||
| • | 86–62 BC | Aretas III | ||||||||
| • | 62–59 BC | Obodas II | ||||||||
| • | 59–30 BC | Malichus I | ||||||||
| • | 30–9 BC | Obodas III | ||||||||
| • | 9 BC– 40 AD | Aretas IV | ||||||||
| Historical era | Antiquity | |||||||||
| • | Established | 4th century BC | ||||||||
| • | Obodas I repels Hasmonean invasion | 90 BC | ||||||||
| • | Conquered by the Roman Empire | 106 AD | ||||||||
| Area | 200,000 km² (77,220 sq mi) | |||||||||
| Currency | Nabataean Denarius | |||||||||
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| Today part of |
 Jordan Syria Saudi Arabia Egypt Israel Palestine
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The Nabataean Kingdom (Arabic: المملكة النبطية), also named Nabatea, was a political state of the Arab Nabataeans during classical antiquity.
Nabataea remained independent from the 4th century BC until It was annexed by the Roman Empire in AD 106, which renamed it Arabia Petrea.
The Nabataeans were one among several nomadic Bedouin tribes that roamed the Arabian Desert and moved with their herds to wherever they could find pasture and water. They became familiar with their area as seasons passed, and they struggled to survive during bad years when seasonal rainfall diminished. Although the Nabataeans were initially embedded in Aramaic culture, theories about them having Aramean roots are rejected by modern scholars. Instead, archaeological, religious and linguistic evidence confirm that they are a northern Arabian tribe.
The precise origin of the specific tribe of Arab nomads remains uncertain. One hypothesis locates their original homeland in today's Yemen, in the southwest of the Arabian peninsula, but their deities, language and script share nothing with those of southern Arabia. Another hypothesis argues that they came from the eastern coast of the peninsula.
The suggestion that they came from the Hejaz area is considered to be more convincing, as they share many deities with the ancient people there; nbtw, the root consonant of the tribe's name, is found in the early Semitic languages of Hejaz.
Similarities between late Nabataean Arabic dialect and the ones found in Mesopotamia during the Neo-Assyrian period, as well as a group with the name of "Nabatu" being listed by the Assyrians as one of several rebellious Arab tribes in the region, suggests a connection between the two. The Nabataeans might have originated from there and migrated west between the 6th and 4th centuries BC into northwestern Arabia and much of what is now modern-day Jordan.
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Wikipedia