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A nomadic population speaking a Semitic language occupying the region of Tayma and Madain Salih, first attested in the annals of the Assyrian King Ashurbanipal in the mid 7th century bc. By the early 6th century bc they had established a kingdom south and east of Edom, ancient Midian, on a trade route between the Red Sea and the Mediterranean. The Nabataeans infiltrated Edom and forced the Edomites into southern Palestine. They made Petra, Jordan, Jordan, their capital c.312 bc, but they also controlled Bosra, Damascus, and many other towns at the height of their power.
A notable achievement of Nabataean technology was their elaborate network for water collection, storage, and distribution in their cities, as well as for agricultural use throughout the kingdom. Nabataean fineware pottery, both plain and painted, was locally produced and is amongst the finest ceramics produced in the Middle East up to that time. Their mining, processing, and manufacturing of iron, copper, bronze, lead, gold, and silver objects were on a par with the rest of the Roman world.
The Aramaic-speaking Nabataeans created a new writing form, a running cursive or semi-ligatured script which was used for both lapidary inscriptions and graffiti. This later evolved into the Arabic writing still in use today.
In 64–63 bc the Nabataean kingdom was conquered by the Romans under Pompey, but it remained independent while paying imperial taxes. The kingdom was finally annexed by the Romans under Trajan in ad 106 to become Provincia Arabia Petraea.
