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Petra, Nabataeans, and East-West Trade c150 B.C.
History
The Crossroads of Occidental and Oriental Worlds - Petra and The Nabataeans, The Great Temple, Khirbet Tannur, Miletus, and Rhodes. Nabataean desert Trade Routes and those to Port Cities Along the Mediterranean and Red Sea during the early Hellenistic period, Evidence of Intercultural Contacts and Associations with the West. Alexandrian Egypt - The
Lighthouse of Pharos, The Library of Alexandria, The Mouseion of Alexandria
Introduction - Petra, Nabataeans, and East-West Trade
OPEN's portfolio on history of Middle Eastern contemporaries of the Mariners
of Greece provides students and teachers an opportunity to study one of the most
spectacular sites and ancient peoples of the Middle East and Eastern
Mediterranean, Petra and the Nabataeans.
The Nabataeans were first a nomadic people whose outpost cities are still
standing today, a kingdom that flourished in the midst of the struggle
of titanic empires, and a crossroads that was also a gateway between two
vast worlds.....East and West.
"Nabataean Classical monuments reflect the international character of
the Nabataean economy through their combination of native tradition and the
classical spirit,...."
Martha Sharp Joukowsky
Professor, Center for Old
World Archaeology and Art,
and Dept. Anthropology,
Brown University
In keeping with OPEN's primary axis; "cross-cultural collaboration, the
bridge to the future", we offer a look into how this thoroughly Middle
Eastern people of questing spirit emerged from their desert city as
world renowned traders, lasting monument builders, and gifted engineers.
The Nabataeans were contemporaries of the Greeks at the time of the rise
of Alexander and the spread of Hellenism, in their own right a great
civilization of the Eastern Mediterranean and Near East.
While the evidence is at present spotty, there are tantalizing clues that
there was contact between Greek and Nabataean peoples throughout the
eastern Mediterranean and beyond. There are archaeological finds in the
Delphinium of Apollo in Miletus (a town south of Ephesus on the Aegean coast
of Modern Turkey). At that site were bi-lingual inscriptions in both Nabataean
and Greek carved on stone blocks.
There is further evidence of contact in the town of Rhodes on the island of Rhodes,
the Greek island of Delos, and in Puteoli on the West coast of Italy near Pompeii.
Other indications of possible Nabataean and Greek encounters were found in Petra
and Khirbet Tannur and other sites just north of Petra. Additionally, the Nabataeans
also had a dolphin goddess that was of central importance in their religion.
The extensive and well-traveled desert trade routes of the Nabataeans and other
eastern Mediterranean cultures also connected to the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea,
to Gaza, Joppa (modern day Jaffa), Tyre, Rhinocolura (el-Arish) Alexandria,
and other port cities on the Eastern Mediterranean.
"The Nabataeans were among the greatest and ergo the most
successful traders of ancient world. Their Mediterranean was the desert.
Their ships were the caravan. Their routes were not over the water, but
over the sands - every bit as treacherous as the sea."
Martha Sharp Joukowsky
Suggested Study Projects, Possible Investigations - Petra and the Nabataeans, East-West Trade and Cross Cultural Exchange
- Petra and the Nabataeans
Examine the history of Petra and the Nabataeans; how they created a
kingdom in the middle of the desert, carved a thriving city out of a dry
canyon, and left a legacy as great international traders.
Investigate and discuss the disappearance of the Nabataeans, the ensuing
seclusion of Petra for a thousand years, and the extraordinary interest in
it today.
- East-West Trade and Cross-Cultural Exchange
Research and report on the trade routes which connected East to West,
and cite evidence of the Nabataeans connection to Alexandria, other port
trading cities from the Gulf of Aqaba (ancient Aelana) to Gaza and the
eastern Mediterranean. Examine evidence from the town of Rhodes
on the island of Rhodes, the Greek island of Delos, in Puteoli on the West
coast of Italy near Pompeii. Other indications of possible Nabataean
and Greek encounters were found in Petra and Khirbet Tannur and other
sites just north of Petra. Research Petra's role in East West trade. Examine
all available evidence of this contact and inter-cultural exchange.
Did the Nabataeans adopt a Dolphin goddess from the Greeks via
contact with Greek maritime traders and explorers? Investigate and
research this cultural mystery.
Petra and East-West Trade & Cross-Cultural Exchange-Related Bibliography References
- The Mediterranean (Saga of the Sea), Emil Ludwig, McGraw-Hill
- Petra, Iain Browning, Noyes Press, 1973.
- Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land, Avram Negev, Putnam Sons.
- Deities and Dolphins, Nelson Glueck, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York.
- Star Myths, Theony Condos, Phanes Press, Port Huron, Michigan.
- Casson, Lionel, Ancient Mariners, Seafarers and Sea Fighters of the Mediterranean in Ancient Times, Princeton University Press,
1991
- Petra, Ancient City of Stone, National Geographic Magazine, Vol.194, No. 6, December 1998.
- Petra, Rose Red Citadel of Biblical Edom, National Geographic Magazine, pp. 853-870, December 1955.
- Arab Land Beyond Jordan, National Geographic Magazine, pp. 753-768, December 1947.
- Petra, Ancient Caravan Stronghold, National Geographic Magazine,pp. 129-165, February 1935.
- Arabia, The Desert of the Sea, National Geographic Magazine, pp.1039-1062, December 1909.
- The Rock City of Petra, National Geographic Magazine, pp. 283-291, May 1907.
Related Websites
VISUAL
Each class presentation should include a visual component. Create
colorful charts diagrams, maps or art, which are large and clear enough
for your international classmates to see.
If you are performing a skit or a re-enactment of an historical event,
costumes and props may count as the visual component of your project.
Costumes may be simple, but everyone who is playing a part must wear
some type of costume.
You may also want to consider making a backdrop, so that your
classroom looks more like the site of ancient undersea wreck, or even a
modern newsroom.
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