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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 1677086, member: 42773&quot;]The reason the Nabataeans fascinate me is because they came out of a nomadic culture that relied on trading, and even though they eventually became a sedentary society, they still managed to retain their nomadic roots by trading all over the Arabian peninsula. They were in some ways an economic glue in the entire area.</p><p><br /></p><p>In one sense they were chameleons in that they adapted various cultural elements from other societies in order to make themselves more appealing to trade partners. And they had trade partners as far south as the Sabaeans and eventually Himyarites, and as far east as India also. They are even mentioned in a couple of Chinese texts.</p><p><br /></p><p>They tried to maintain a certain amount of neutrality so as to not alienate their economic partners, but that wasn&#039;t always possible of course. Their real culture was hidden from the outside world, which is what makes it intriguing - they left no literature, and archeologists can only guess at their inner world by the objects they left behind.</p><p><br /></p><p>Eventually they couldn&#039;t resist the influence of Rome, but that holds true for many of the societies in the region.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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