The social and economic development of the Nabataean community is one of the most striking facts in the Hellenistic Near East. The present paper specializes in the fundamental causes of their sedentarization which came after the nomadic life and of their making of a powerful kingdom, by utilizing Ibn Khaldun's social theory about "badawah" and "hadarah", especially about "asabiyah", which can be applied in their history. As main sources are used texts of Diodorus, Josephus, Strabo, and reports on the recent excavations of Negeb. Diodorus' description shows these people in 312 b. c., according to which they jealously continued their nomadic life without houses and also other peculiarities ef sedentary cultures, very similar to the Rechabites of the OT. This kind of life also may be similar to that of mere "necessities" in Khaldun's theory, strongly attached to "asabiyah" by blood ties and tribal prescription. Therefore we cannot call this process of a community "kingdom". At the same time they far surpassed other neighbouring tribes in wealth, because they were accustomed to caravan trade of precious Arabian goods. It is true that this trade peculiar to them made them accumulate enough wealth to establish a kingdom, and in their history commercial influence is superior to agricultural one and such appreciation of the latter by some writers fails to expose the basic causes of their sedentarization. In short, The Nabataean society of 312 b. c. was a period of transition to "hadarah". Strabo, relying mainly upon contemporary sources, describes the already established kingdom of the Nabataeans, in which they lead civilized sedentary life, requiring "conveniences" and even "luxuries"-a sign of a state in Khaldun's theory, but some-what restrained from old power of "asabiyah", which means the continuity in the development of the tribal community since 312 b. c. It is possible to regard the relaxation of tribal bases of a society, originated from "asabiyah", as a mark of the existence of an organized state presided by a king. From this point of view, it is true that their kingdom was consolidated between the late second century and the Roman conquest of the districts around Syria by Pompey the Great.
|
