The Nabataean Kingdom controlled many of the trade routes of the region, amassing large wealth and drawing the envy of its neighbors.

Nabataea remained an independent political entity from the mid-3rd century BC until it was annexed in AD 106 by the Roman Empire, which renamed it to Arabia Petraea.

The Nabataeans were one among several nomadic Bedouin Arab tribes that roamed the Arabian Desert and moved with their herds to wherever they could find pasture and water.

One hypothesis locates their original homeland in today's Yemen, in the southwest of the Arabian Peninsula, but their deities, language and script share nothing with those of southern Arabia.

Aramaic ostraca finds indicate that the Achaemenid province Idumaea must have been established before 363 BC, after the failed revolt of Hakor of Egypt and Evagoras I of Salamis against the Persians.

[3] The Qedarites joined the failed revolt and consequently lost significant territory and their privileged position in the frankincense trade, and they were presumably replaced by the Nabataeans.

[3] It has been argued that the Persians lost interest in the former territory of the Edomite Kingdom after 400 BC, allowing the Nabataeans to gain prominence in that area.

Diodorus refers accounts made 300 years earlier by Hieronymus of Cardia, one of Alexander the Great's generals, who had a first-hand encounter with the Nabataeans.

[4] Diodorus wrote about how they were "exceptionally fond of freedom" and includes an account about unsuccessful raids that were initiated by Greek general Antigonus I in 312 BC.

[5] According to Diodorus, Antigonus sought to add "the land of the Arabs who are called Nabataeans" to his existing territories of Syria and Phoenicia.

[7] The Nabataeans generated revenues from the trade caravans that transported frankincense, myrrh and other spices from Eudaemon in today's Yemen, across the Arabian Peninsula, passing through Petra and ending up in the Port of Gaza for shipment to European markets.

The camp was attacked by 8,000 pursuing Nabataean soldiers and—as Diodorus describes it—"all the 4,000 foot-soldiers were slain, but of the 600 horsemen about 50 escaped, and of these the larger part were wounded";[9][10] Athenaeus was killed.

[9][12] But the Nabataeans, though pleased with Antigonus' response, remained suspicious and established outposts on the edge of the mountains in preparation for future attacks.

[9][15] The Nabataeans dispersed their herds and possessions to guarded locations in harsh terrain—such as deserts and mountain tops—which would be difficult for the Demetrius to attack, and garrisoned "the rock" to defend what remained.

[18] Diodorus mentions that the Nabataeans had attacked merchant ships belonging to the Ptolemies in Egypt at an unspecified date, but were soon targeted by a larger force and "punished as they deserved".

[20] The first phase was in the 4th century BC (ruled then by an elders' council),[21] which was marked by the growth of Nabataean control over trade routes and various tribes and towns.

Their presence in Transjordan by the end of the 4th century BC is guaranteed by Antigonus' operations in the region, and despite recent suggestions that there is no evidence of Nabataean occupation of the Hauran in the early period, the Zenon papyri firmly attest the penetration of the Hauran by the Nabataeans in the mid-3rd century BC, and according to Bowersock it "establish[es] these Arabs in one of the principal areas of subsequent splendor".

[23] In their early history, before establishing urban centers the Nabataeans demonstrated on several occasions their impressive and well organized military prowess by successfully defending their territory against larger powers.

This is in line with Strabo's account (whose description of Arabia derives ultimately from reports by 3rd century BC Ptolemaic officials) that the Nabataean kingship was old and traditional.

[35] The testimony of the 4th and 3rd century external accounts and local materialistic evidence demonstrate that the Nabataeans played a relatively substantial political and economic role in the sphere of the early Hellenistic world.

[37] Or his imprisonment might have happened at a later date (167 BC) as a result of the established friendship between the Nabataeans and Judas Maccabaeus, aimed to hand Jason to the Jews.

[30] Romano-Jewish historian Josephus reports that Judas Maccabeus and his brother Jonathan marched three days into the wilderness before encountering the Nabataeans in the Hauran, where they were settled in for at least a century.

[30] The friendly relations between them is further emphasized by Jonathan's decision to send his brother John to "lodge his baggage" with the Nabataeans until the battle with the Seleucids is over.

[2] Petra was included in a list of major cities in the Mediterranean area to be visited by a notable from Priene, a sign of the significance of Nabataea in the ancient world.

[44] Gaza City was the last stop for spices that were carried by trade caravans before shipment to European markets, giving the Nabataeans considerable influence over the Gazans.

There was no more building of sumptuous tombs, apparently because of a sudden change in political ways, such as an invasion by the neo-Persian power under the Sassanid Empire.

The city of Palmyra, for a time the capital of the breakaway Palmyrene Empire, grew in importance and attracted the Arabian trade away from Petra.