Featured Ancient: Nabataea, Rabbel II, AR Sela (drachm)

Quite right. They were a loose confederation of tribes. Some sectors of the population became quite sedentarised and cosmopolitan, others were caravan traders, still others seafarers, and many adhered to their ancestral lifestyle of nomadic pastoralism. There was no monolithic entity with a homogenous culture known as "Nabataea." Speakers of the same language referred to themselves as the "Nabtu," but Josephus and various Roman sources simply call them Arabs.

As far as ISIS goes, I would proffer a scathing opinion concerning Islamic fundamentalism, but that's a religious topic, and I'd rather remain a member of this forum than not.

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

not only have you now seen one, you have identified it and have been voted "most likely" to get it i think my trajan is of the rabbel ll

 

Yes, very apropos post to this old thread! That's the only drachm of Trajan that I've seen that is clearly overstruck on a drachm of Rabbel II. You can see the Nabataean letters shin, nun, and taw in the upper left.

 

yes, thanks to you John, we now know where at least one is. i think it warrants a thread of it own, this coin. would you like to do one on it?

 

for posterity

 

Well if you're selling, I'm buying! Send me a PM though - we're supposed to keep buying and selling off the main forum as per the moderators' request.

 

lol, that's for the inheritors of my realm John.