When did Nabateans arrive in Petra?

1st century BC
The earliest ones probably date from the middle of the 1st century BC, the vast majority in the 1st century AD. After the Romans annexed the Nabataean Kingdom in 106 AD, burials in the city center were forbidden.

Who were the first inhabitants of Petra?

the Nabataeans
The area around Petra has been inhabited from as early as 7000 BC, and the Nabataeans might have settled in what would become the capital city of their kingdom, as early as the 4th century BC.

Was Petra a capital city?

Located amid rugged desert canyons and mountains in what is now the southwestern corner of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Petra was once a thriving trading center and the capital of the Nabataean empire between 400 B.C. and A.D. 106. The city sat empty and in near ruin for centuries.

Where did the Nabateans come from?

The Nabataeans, an Arab tribe, first appeared in the sixth century BC in the desert located to the east of Jordan, and came from the south-east of the Arabian Peninsula. They settled first in Petra and subsequently expanded their territory to the Horan and Levant and finally announced Bosra as their capital.

What happened to the Nabateans?

Described as fiercely independent by contemporary Greco-Roman accounts, the Nabataeans were annexed into the Roman Empire by Emperor Trajan in 106 CE. They later converted to Christianity during the Later Roman Era. Jane Taylor describes them as “one of the most gifted peoples of the ancient world”.

Why did the Nabateans leave Petra?

However, commerce became less profitable to the Nabateans with the shift of trade routes to Palmyra in Syria and the expansion of seaborne trade around the Arabian peninsula. Sometime probably during the fourth century CE, the Nabateans left their capital at Petra.

What makes Petra’s architecture unique?

Even ad-Deir (“the Monastery”), Petra’s largest and most imposing rock rock-cut façade, located in the hills high above the city, shows an austere Arabian decorative scheme that belies its otherwise Hellenistic architectural style. The Nabataeans also had to learn to harness the limited water resources of their desert capital.

How did the Nabataean kings present themselves to the world?

With such wealth and position, the Nabataean kings had to present both themselves and their city as equal partners in the international community, which at the time meant adopting the styles, tastes and the mores of “western” Hellenistic civilization.

What are the characteristics of Nabataean architecture?

Simplicity and minimalism in building and decoration is characteristic of the Arabian aspects of Nabataean civilization.

Were the Nabataeans Hellenized or Arabian?

Almost everything about the Nabataeans—their history, their culture, their religion, their technologies and especially their architecture—reflects a society born out of two worlds: one authentically Arabian, and the other unquestionably Hellenized.