The Nazarean Legacy

Abstract

After Pompey Magnus’s conquest of the Hellenistic East in 64 B.c., theRoman administrators of Asia Occidentalis divided the Arabian peninsulainto three realms: Arabia Petraea (Rocky Arabia), which stretchedfrom Greater Syria to the Gulf of Ayala (Aqaba), and whose capital inPetra (the Rock) was carved out by the Nabateans from sandstone on theslopes of Ain Musa; Arabia Deserta (desert Arabia) with Bostra (Busra)as the commercial capital in Hawran; and Arabia Felix (happy Arabia)or Yemen with the capital city of Mariaba (Ma’rib). Arabia Petraea,despite its wilderness, played a significant role in the political life of theempire.’ Because of the natural supply of pure water in the barren land,it was a midpoint on the ancient caravan route from Hadramaut to Egyptand Syria. A variety of goods-the myrrh and frankincense of theSabaean Arabia Felix, ivory, gold, and slaves of East Africa, spices,gems, and precious wood of India- were transported via Petra andGerasa (Jerash) to Damascus, Alexandria, and Rome. In Arabia Petraea,the Prophet Yusuf was cast into a well by his brothers from which he wasfound and brought to Egypt, where he was sold. Many readers of theBible believe that Ain Musa near Petra is the spring that the ProphetMusa caused to gush forth. In the time of the Prophet Sulayman, ArabiaPetraea was populated by the semitic tribes of Edom and Moab. Duringthe rule of the Babylonian Nabuchadnezzar who sacked Jerusalem in 587B.c. and deported Judean rebels to Babylon, the Edomites established akingdom of Sela in the land of Seir. But at the end of the sixth centuryB.c., the Nabateans forced them to migrate to Idumea. Under theNabatean rule, Petra was recognized as the ancient “duty-fire” city. TheNabatean desert kingdom survived as an independent state until the ...