The history of the Nabataean Kingdom of Hellenistic-Roman times, centred on Petra, is now well known, but until the publication of this book, no monograph has been devoted to Nabataean religion, known to us principally from inscriptions in Nabataean Aramaic, iconography, archaeology and Greek literary texts. After a critical survey of the sources, the author analyses systematically the information on the individual gods worshipped by the Nabataeans, including a detailed illustrated account of temples and iconography. A further major section discusses religious themes: aniconism, henotheism, death-cult and the divinisation of kings. In a final chapter, Nabataean religion is considered in relation to Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The book will be of particular interest to historians of religion in the Graeco-Roman Near East and to Semitic epigraphists.

The Nabataean Arabs, one of the most gifted peoples of the ancient world, are today known only for their hauntingly beautiful rock-carved capital - Petra, a magnificent city carved out of the mountains, and one of the most breath-taking achievements of the ancient world. Yet they were famous in their day - Herod the Great and his sons, and a kaleidoscope of Roman emperors and generals were keenly aware of this powerful and wealthy trading kingdom. The Nabateans became inspired patrons of the arts, creating some of the most sublime and perfectly individual architecture of the time, not only at Petra, but over much of the Middle East. This richly illustrated book recounts the story of a remarkable but lost civilization. It tells of their nomadic origins, the development of their rich culture in Jordan, Syria, Arabia, Sinai and the Negev, their relations with their more famous neighbours and the demise of their kingdom at the hands of the Romans.

The Nabataeans were ancient peoples of Arabia, whose civilization was headquartered at Petra, 'the rose red city half as old as time'. Their loosely controlled trading network covered the borderland between Syria and Arabia, from the Euphrates to the Red Sea. Incredibly wealthy from trade, they were significant regional players. Herod Antipas, for example, was married to a Nabataean princess. The Roman emperor Trajan annexed the Nabataean kingdom in the beginning of the 2nd century ad. Their distinct culture, easily identified by their characteristic finely-potted painted ceramics, became dispersed in the general Greco-Roman culture and was eventually lost. "The book is not intended as a substitute for any of the commercially available guidebooks on Petra. Instead it is meant to help the reader understand the whys, wherefores and whens of these fascinating people," explains the author. "What I wanted was a book that would relate Petra and Madain Saleh to the Nabataeans' story in terms of present day scholarship. The problem with Nabataean history is that they left no records of their own and a lot of scholarly research is simply well informed educated guess work that has had to be revised several times." This new title will be published on the 200th anniversary of the first European to describe the historic Nabataean site of Petra by the Swiss traveller Johann Ludwig Burckhardt. What makes this book unique is that it will provide a popular and accessible account of the two major Nabataean sites: Petra in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as well as its important sister city of Madain Saleh in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Both are UNESCO World Heritage sites, and the author knows them intimately. This book will provide visitors to both the Saudi Arabian and Jordanian sites more substance than found in a guidebook of listings and pictures. It should also appeal to students and anyone with an interest in one of the last great puzzles of history.

Discover a comprehensive and cross-disciplinary handbook exploring several sub-regions and key themes perfect for a new generation of students A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East delivers the first complete handbook in the area of Hellenistic and Roman Near Eastern history. The book is divided into sections dealing with interdisciplinary source material, each with a great deal of regional variety and engaging with several key themes. It integrates discussions of the classical Near East with the typical undergraduate teaching syllabus in the Anglo-Saxon world. All contributors in this edited volume are leading scholars in their field, with a combination of established researchers and academics, and emerging voices. Contributors hail from countries across several continents, and work in various disciplines, including Ancient History, Archaeology, Art History, Epigraphy, Numismatics, and Oriental Studies. In addition to furthering the integration of the Levantine lands in the classical periods into the teaching canon, the book offers readers: The first comprehensively structured Companion and edited handbook on the Hellenistic and Roman Near East Extensive regional and sub-regional variety in the cross-disciplinary source material A way to compensate for the recent destruction of monuments in the region and the new generation of researchers’ inability to examine these historical stages in person An integration of the study of the Hellenistic and Roman Near East with traditional undergraduate teaching syllabi in the Anglo-Saxon world Perfect for undergraduate history and classics students studying the Near East, A Companion to the Hellenistic and Roman Near East will also earn a place in the libraries of graduate students and scholars working within Near Eastern studies, as well as interested members of the public with a passion for history.

"An emerging field of study that explores the Hispanic minority in the United States, Latino Studies is enriched by an interdisciplinary perspective. Historians, sociologists, anthropologists, political scientists, demographers, linguists, as well as religion, ethnicity, and culture scholars, among others, bring a varied, multifaceted approach to the understanding of a people whose roots are all over the Americas and whose permanent home is north of the Rio Grande. Oxford Bibliographies in Latino Studies offers an authoritative, trustworthy, and up-to-date intellectual map to this ever-changing discipline."--Editorial page.

Flourishing in the centuries around the birth of Christ, the Nabataean kingdom covered a large swathe of the north-western Arabian Peninsula and was shaped by cultural influences from the Mediterranean, Arabian and wider Semitic worlds. The Religious Life of Nabataea examines the inscriptions, sculptures and architectural remains left by worshippers in every corner of the kingdom, from the spectacular remains of the desert city of Petra to the fertile plains of southern Syria. While previous scholarly approaches have minimised the diversity of cultic practices and traditions found in Nabataea, this study reveals a vibrant religious landscape dominated by a variety of local traditions.

Contents: Konstantinos D. Politis: Prologue; Norman Lewis: The Rediscovery of Petra, 1807-1818; Robert Wenning: The Nabataeans in History (Before AD 106); John F. Healey: Nabataeans Inscriptions: Language and Script; John R. Bartlett: Nabataean Religion; Joseph Patrich: Nabataean Art between East and West: A methodical Assessment; Laurent Tholbecq: Nabataean Monumental Architecture; Bernhard Kolb: Nabataean Dwellings: Domestic Architecture and Interior Decoration; David Graf: Nabataeans under Roman Rule (After AD 106); Konstantinos D. Politis: Nabataean Cultural Continuity into the Byzantine Period; Fazwi Zayadine: The Spice Trade from South Arabia and India to Nabataea and Palestine; John P. Oleson: Nabataean Water Supply, Irrigation and Agriculture; Jacqueline Studer: Animal Exploitation in the Nabataean World; Peter J. Parr: The Urban Development of Petra; Hero Granger-Taylor: Textiles of the Graeco-Roman Period from the Dead Sea Region; Stephan G. Schmid: Nabataean Fine-ware Pottery; James R. B. Mason: Experimenting the Manufacture of Nabataean Fine-ware Pottery; Julian M. C. Bowsher: Monetary Interchange in Nabataean Petra; Steven Rosen: The Nabataeans as Pastoral Nomads. An Archaeological Perspective; Zaki Aslan: The Cultural and Heritage Management of Petra; Glen W. Bowersock: Conclusion.

This volume analyses the religious, philosophical and folkloristic content of Ibn Waḥshiyya's (d. 931) Nabatean Agriculture, a book containing rich information on Late Antique paganism in Iraq. The book also contains 61 translated excerpts from the Nabatean Agriculture.

The Roman province of Arabia occupied a crucial corner of the Mediterranean world, encompassing most of what is now Jordan, southern Syria, northwest Saudi Arabia, and the Negev. Mr. Bowersock's book is the first authoritative history of the region from the fourth century B.C. to the age of Constantine. The book opens with the arrival of the Nahataean Arabs in their magnificent capital at Petra and describes the growth of their hellenized culture based on trade in perfume and spices. It traces the transformation of the region from an Arab kingdom under Roman influence into an imperial province, one that played an increasingly important role in the Roman strategy for control of the Near East. While the primary emphasis is on the relations of the Arabs of the region with the Romans, their interactions with neighboring states, Jewish, Egyptian, and Syrian, are also stressed. The narrative concludes with the breakup of the Roman province at the start of the Byzantine age.

Until now, no study has been made of the construction techniques of the Nabataean freestanding buildings and the rock-cut monuments of Petra, Jordan (built from the 1st cent. BC to the 2nd cent. AD). Their technical features were documented by fieldwork,and this evidence was then analysed to determine precisely when and why these features appeared or evolved. This leads to explaining how the Nabataeans developed their architecture, and what types of construction techniques they used to bring Petra's architecture to its peak. The historical and geographical context for the architecture of Petra is presented, with a summary of previous scholarship on the site. The focus moves to the building materials used by the Nabataeans which are found toinfluence the construction techniques they developed. This is followed by a detailed discussion of quarrying and the rock-cut techniques. The procedures for dressing ashlar blocks and the facades of the rock-cut monuments are analysed to determine the tools used by the builders, as well as the lifting devices necessary for construction of the freestanding buildings. The technical aspects of the construction of walls, columns, floors, the anti-seismic and stabilising techniques developed by theNabataeans are considered. Finally, the construction of roofs is examined in detail. The results of the study reveal the sources of the building techniques used at Petra and why they were further developed there.THREE REVIEWS OF HOW PETRA WAS BUILT:J. J. Coulton, Formerly Reader in Classical Archaeology, University of Oxford. "Using his practical experience as an architect as well as extensive and detailed fieldwork, Dr Rababeh has provided an illuminating analysis of Nabataean buildings, showing how they drew on, and modified, previous Levantine and Hellenistic methods to suit local materials and local requirements." Judith McKenzie, author of The Architecture of Petra: "Other books cover the architectural styles of the monuments of Petra. Shaher er-Rababeh's is the first to focus on the subject of how they were built, both the rock-cut tombs and the freestanding buildings. He methodically presents the results of months of first-hand examination of the evidence. Each aspect of building construction is analysed making wide-ranging use of recent scholarship on ancient building techniques. Just as the Nabataeans made their desert environment habitable with complex water-collection systems, they refined local, Egyptian, Greek and Roman construction techniques to suit the city's rose red sandstone and other available building materials. Rababeh shows the Nabataean construction techniques were just as distinctive in their details as the style of their architecture - which they created from classical Alexandrian andNear Eastern elements. He makes interesting discoveries. The stone cut awaywhen the tombs were carved was used to erect the city's freestanding buildings.Rababeh shows how Petra has the earliest extensive examples of timber used tostrengthen stone masonry buildings, as later seen on the Ka'ba at Mekka."Ehud Netzer, author of Nabataeische Architektur: "This comprehensive study of the building systems in the Nabataean world is a pioneering work. It deals with all aspects from wall foundations to roof tiles; simple constructions and monumental ones; freestanding buildings and monuments cut into the rock. Shaher's new book widens our knowledge of the enchanted world of Nabataean architecture."