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Episode 114, the Nabatian Kingdom.

One early morning in April of 2025, I found myself walking through a winding canyon known as Al-Suk, near the town of Wadi Musa in southern Jordan. Only occasionally interrupted by the

echoing shrieks of birds of prey, I was fortunate enough to trek in silence and escape the mob of tourists,

while also taking in the trace remains of ancient sculptures and graffiti carved into the walls.

Soon enough, a glow pierced my path, and upon reaching its end, I found

myself in front of an awe-inspiring sight. An enormous tomb, ornately carved of the sandstone that

glowed a radiant rose-orange in the sunlight, measuring nearly 39 meters or 129 feet in height,

decorated with equally large Corinthian columns and flanked by faceless rope figures leading their larger-than-life horses.

Known in Arabic as Al-Kazne, the treasury, this is the most famous monument of the city of Petra,

royal capital of the Nabatian kingdom that once ruled across

much of the Levant from the 3rd century BC until the early 2nd century AD. In this episode,

we will cover the history of the Navetians, their society, their place within the Mediterranean,

and a detailed description of their capital city of Petra.

Like so many cultures we cover, no known history of the Nabatians written by the Nabatians themselves survives.

We instead are informed by Greek and Jewish authors, but with the former we have a peculiar

situation where Nabatian society is particularly visible

during the time just after Alexander the Great and once again just before Augustus,

nearly three centuries apart from one another.

The earliest account comes from Diodorus of Sicily in the mid-first century BC, who was relying

on the writings of Hieronymus of Cardia,

a prominent general-turned historian serving in the employment of Antigonus I monophthalmus in the late 4th century.

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