Nabataeans

Hello! We are the Nabataeans. We were an ancient Arab people who lived a very long time ago in a land of amazing landscapes. Our home was in the middle of rocky deserts, in a place that is now the country of Jordan. Living in the desert was not always easy, because it is a very dry place. But we learned how to thrive and build our communities there. We became experts at finding our way through the tall, red cliffs that surrounded us. This special desert home shaped our way of life and made us strong and clever. We learned to work with the land, not against it, and we created something truly wonderful in the heart of the desert.

Our most important place was our capital city, which we called Petra. Petra was not like other cities. Instead of building with wood or bricks that you stack on top of each other, we did something much different. We looked at the giant sandstone cliffs around us and saw them as our building material. We carefully carved our buildings directly into the faces of these beautiful, reddish-pink rocks. We carved homes where our families lived, temples for our beliefs, and tombs to honor those who came before us. One of the most famous buildings you can still see today is called the Treasury. It has tall columns and detailed carvings, and it looks just like a grand palace that was cut right out of a single, giant cliff.

Being in the desert meant we were at the center of many important paths. We became expert traders, known far and wide. We formed long lines of camels, called caravans, to carry valuable goods across the hot sands. Our camels were perfect for desert travel and could carry heavy loads for many days. We carried wonderful-smelling spices and a special fragrant material called incense. We traveled to faraway lands, like Egypt and the powerful Roman Empire, to sell these goods. This trade brought us wealth and connected us with many different cultures. Our city of Petra became a busy hub where travelers and merchants would stop to rest and trade.

Living in a city in the desert meant we had to be very smart about one very important thing: water. Rain did not fall very often, so we had to save every single drop we could. We became masters of finding and storing water. We carved long, thin channels into the rock to guide rainwater from the cliffs down into our city. We also built large, hidden tanks underground to keep the water safe and clean. This system was so good that we had enough water for everyone in Petra to drink and even enough to grow gardens. Having green gardens in the middle of a rose-red desert city was something we were very proud of.

Our time as an independent kingdom came to an end more than 2,000 years ago, when our lands became a part of the vast Roman Empire. But even though our kingdom is part of the past, we are not forgotten. The incredible city of Petra still stands today, protected by the desert cliffs. People from all over the world travel to Jordan to walk through the narrow canyons and see the amazing city we carved from stone. When they look at the Treasury and our rock-cut homes, they can see a reminder of our skill, our creativity, and our ability to build a beautiful home in the desert. Our story is written in the stones of Petra.