Show notes
In the deserts of Jordan, a city lies hidden for centuries in a valley of rose-red stone.In this episode, we look at one of the most peculiar stories of civilizational survival to come down to us from the ancient world, the story of the Nabataeans. Find out how these once humble traders rose to become masters of the desert sands, and to defy empires. And discover what happened to finally bring down the empire of Nabataea.
Highlighted moments
After filling these reservoirs with rainwater, they close the openings, making them even with the rest of the ground, and they leave signs that are known to themselves but are unrecognizable by others.
“They were marked with the words Arabia Adquisita rather than the more normal Capta. For the Romans, Arabia had not been captured, but simply acquired.”
“As pagan temples were shut down, demand for incense crashed, and the price began to fall.”
“The fact that these were never reclaimed or even looted suggests that the damage in the city was too great for its declining population to even pick through, let alone rebuild from.”
Transcript
Transcript not available for this episode yet.