Out of the stony desert : a Nabatean alternative

About the Nabateans, I'm following here both Diodorus Siculus (XIX 94 2-6) who states that : "For the sake of those who do not know, it will be useful to state in some detail the customs of these Arabs, by following which, it is believed, they preserve their liberty. They live in the open air, claiming as native land a wilderness that has neither rivers nor abundant springs from which it is possible for a hostile army to obtain water. 3 It is their custom neither to plant grain, set out any fruit-bearing tree, use wine, nor construct any house; and if anyone is found acting contrary to this, death is his penalty.74 p894 They follow this custom because they believe that those who possess these things are, in order to retain the use of them, easily compelled by the powerful to do their bidding. Some of them raise camels, others sheep, pasturing them in the desert." It seems they only changed this practice OTL during the roman period.

I'm also following the indications of the book "Pétra et les Nabatéens" by Marie Jeanne Roche published in 2009 (a book that was also my guide while I visited Avdat, Shivta, Mamshit, Beersheva, Gadara and Petra, amongst others, in the last few weeks, see the pictures at the link in my signature).

Very interesting! Thanks for sharing. :)
 

Hecatee

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Events in the East were to have an important impact on the history of the Nabatene and the surroundings nations. The Seleucid Empire had always had troubles holding to its easternmost provinces, and amongst the various tribes to rise against them were the Parthians. While they had been beaten by Antiochos III, they had retaken their independance and their ambitious ruler Mithridates I had set his sight on the Bactrian kingdom sitting east of his lands.

This kingdom was an important trade route for many precious products coming out of India, into which the Bactian king Demetrius waged war for a few years a decade before the Maccabees’ revolt. This fighting had ironically weakened his nation, which then further declined when a civil war erupted after the general Eucratides seized the western half of the kingdom.
It was this civil war that looked like a good opportunity to Mithridates, who took the two westernmost provinces of the Bactrian kingdom and adder them to his own realm, thus cutting the trade route.

Adventurous traders then started to look toward the sea, knowing fully well that the great Gedrosian desert could not be crossed with any kind of marchandises. The trouble and warfare in the eastern parts of the Seleucid Empire did also make the merchants prefer the southern sea route for their goods. This led to the cities of the Arabic peninsula, where the Nabatene picked up the precious goods and ferried them across the desert toward Gaza, making a huge profit that further enriched them.

Of course this evolution did not pass unseen by the great powers. In the last few years of his life, Antiochos IV did try to bring the trade back into his empire by creating or improving ports on the coast of modern day Iran and in the Arabian Sea. Likewise, Ptolemy VI had seen the benefits he could derive from making this sea trade reach his own empire instead of staying with his competitors in the east. The port of Berenice, previously mainly used to bring elephants to the Egyptian army, was thus enlarged and the necessary infrastructure put in place to better link it with the Nile.

Oddly enough it seems that initially no one thought about using the “desert’s moat” to bring the precious goods to Alexandria on ships, although it would have been feasible. Yet such a moment would arrive soon enough…

For the Nabatene the issue at the time was rather different. Their security came from their mobility, but the need to go further than usually and to trade with new cities on the Arabic coast of Erythrean Sea and of the western Persian Gulf led to troubles : the population of the Nabatene people was simply not sufficient to have enough Nabatene in the various cities and enough caravans to carry the goods from place to place.

This phenomenon led to a greater independence of the women and to a greater reliance on the elders of the tribe, who were more and more left into cities to manage the buying and selling of goods. The children were thus raised more and more inside the walled compounds of the Nabatene trade stations, inside the cities of Arabia.
Often those trading stations were built just outside of the cities, protected by walls and mercenaries and the Nabatene inside kept living in tents, stone hangars being built to protect the precious spices and silks from the East.

Similar complex were built at some of the desert stations, less for defensive purpose than for storing or protecting the goods. One of the desert stations that grew in importance in the late 160’s would be the place the Greeks would call Petra, the rock. In this place and in other such as Hagra or Aretana the Nabatene did not build places as much as they dug them into the soft stone of the hills, burying underground in search of freshness and living by their rule of not building walls.
 

Hecatee

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The late 160’s were a rather quiet period in the East. The stronger Seleucid presence in the further parts of their realm meant the Parthian mostly fought against the northern tribes from the steppes and looked for more gains against the Bactrian kingdom. This also meant that Antiochos IV could spend some time in his capital to help train his son on the proper way to be a king. His stronger position also allowed him to renegotiate the treaty of Apamea to officially increase his forces, especially the amount of elephants and ships he was allowed to own.

While his force in Syria did indeed seem to respect the old treaty of Apamea, his forces in the East on the Iranian plateau were actually much stronger than anyone expected, with amongst other a rather strong force of Elephants procured from India of which the Romans had not gotten wind. Thanks to the new agreement, he ordered part of those forces to the West while increasing anew his forces in the East to maintain them at the same level of strength against the Partians.

This period of peace also allowed for the birth of many new children from the Macedonian soldiers in their garrisons cities, thus insuring the renewal of the manpower of the Empire with a new generation of troops that would be available in the early 140’s.

In Egypt the period was more troubled, but did also allow for the consolidation of the state and the renewal of its manpower base. The main issue was the conflict between the three rulers of the land. Between the two Ptolemies and Cleopatra the situation had deteriorated to the point one had to take action.

But the affairs of Egypt were no longer decided in Alexandria alone, as the rulers of the land of the Pharaohs had long ago brought Rome as an arbitrary in their affairs. In 164 Ptolemy VI Philometor actually went to the city of the seven hills to ask the Senate for a settlement, his brother having succeeded to oust him from the country. A few months later he came back with a solution that gave it’s independance to Cyrenaica, under the rule of his younger brother, and put him back on the throne of Egypt, with the backing of the legions. Yet Ptolemy VII Evergetes was not happy with this decision, feeling that he should also rule over Cyprus.

In 161 he actually attempted to land on the island, with the tacit agreement of a Roman Senate that was all too happy to foster trouble in the region, as long as gold came to the senators’ pockets and grain flowed to Ostia. But Evergete’s assault was soon a failure. Furious, Ptolemy VI decided his brother had done enough damages and sent assassins against him, which were successful, Cyrenaica coming back to the Egyptian crown.

All these trouble of course slowed the projects of infrastructure ordered by Ptolemy VI, especially as bribing the Senators of Rome took a lot of gold away from those projects. While most of the fortress were built, the canal was not yet completely dug up.

To the West Rome was still trying to bring some order to Greece. Its recent victory was bringing new hostages to the city, such as Polybius, and new troubles such as an aflux of philosophers that would soon find themselves expelled by the Senate.

But overall this period was rather quiet, with Rome slowly strengthening it’s hold on Spain and Cisalpina while increasing its influence all around the Mediterranean. Of course the influx of riches brought by conquest and corruption meant that the Romans wanted more and more luxury goods from the East, be it jewels, spices, silks or incense. This meant that the port of Gaza took a more and more important place in the roman trade network, with some roman merchants going as far as living in Gaza to steer trade toward the Delos market, recently freed of taxes by the Romans in an attempt to diminish the power of the Rhodian traders.
 
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