The Nabataean Kingdom was an enigmatic island of first-century luxury, surrounded by a sea of arid dunes. After generations of scraping a life out of the trackless desert, they finally found their stride among the world’s trading nations and amassed untold wealth from the peoples of the Mediterranean Basin. Such wealth in fact, that the public influencers of Rome bitterly complained about the massive trade imbalance between the Empire and the Nabataean Kingdom.
Their recorded tirades sound strangely like those of today, as many complain about the billions of US Dollars going to China.
The change in culture over just a few generations was dramatic. Originally a largely nomadic people, they frowned on individuals drinking or producing wine, planting and harvesting crops, and building permanent dwellings. In some cases, violating these strictures was a capital crime. Anything that infringed on the group’s freedom of movement, or required dependence on outside forces for security and comfort, struck at the heart of who they were.
But as they developed trade in luxury goods with the west, and their coffers swelled, many came to appreciate what they could do with a little money. And how much more they could do with a lot of money. They planted vineyards, made wine, and enjoyed it. They traded in their black, goat-hair tents of the desert for fine houses built of stone. Houses painted with murals equal to those found in Pompeii.
They also found that by applying the hydraulic technologies already developed in Persia, Egypt, and Rome—and then adding their own remarkable innovations—they could wring water from a waterless desert, to produce a flourishing agriculture. Not only wine, but dates, figs, apricots, olives, and a host of cereal grains supported the local population and provided an additional export.
The new found wealth of the Nabataeans was no longer seen as a cultural negative, but became celebrated—even to the point of publicly fining individuals whose wealth had diminished from the year before.
The economic changes affecting the people of Nabataea were profound.