Nabataeansprosper in their capital Petra at the end of the fourth century BC, and remained nearly for 400 years controllers of caravan routs which ran between Yemen to Egypt, a path of gold, incense and luxury goods, Petra has been since the first century BC. one of the most important trade centers.
Nabataeans earned the bulk of their wealth from their commercial pursuit. The land on which they lived produced little more than copper from Wadi Araba and bitumen from the Dead Sea, the bitumen was transported to Egypt and sold for use in embalming the dead and caulking boats. Caravans were immense, comprising so many men and camels that they resembled an army; they must have made a powerful impression.
We do not know what other merchandise Nabataeans carried on the outbound journey, but it is known they sought incense, myrrh and certain spices from their partners to the south, in the land of Yemen. In addition they bought the spices that arrived from India. These products traveled the route northward from the Hejaz and, passing through Hegra, arrived in Petra, which functioned as a transit point.
From there they were conveyed to the Mediterranean ports, in particular Gaza and Alexandria. The most important route was that between Petra and Gaza; today it has been identified and defined clearly. The goods were then shipped Greece and Italy, where they were highly valued for a range of uses, including religious rituals, medicines, beauty products, and cooking. This economic and territorial expansion attracted the interest of the Romans, themselves in a period of expansion, and was eventually one of the reasons that they imposed an alliance on Nabataea and later annexed it.
Beside commercial activity Nabataeans mastered and developed a sophisticated public waterworks fed by three larger springs located several miles from Petra. Systems of strategically placed rock-cut gutters lined with watertight plaster, combined with terracotta pipelines, followed the natural landscape to feed nearly 200 cistern tanks, many reservoirs and a nymphaeum, or public fountain house.
