Nabateans: Traders With Teeth

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Posted on 17 December 2014
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==Transcript==
The Nabateans, from the region now known as Jordan,
were traders, in the same way that saber tooth tigers were cats.
For example, just after the Seleucid army sacked their capital
city of Petra in 312 BC, the Nabateans were able to annihilate
the trespassers in the desert because they were weighed down
by so much Nabatean treasure, but in spite of this aggression,
the Nabateans worked hard to maintain a cooperative relationship
with their invaders, thereby cementing their
economic and strategic position in the region.
Their ability to compartmentalize, to prioritize,
prevented bloodlust or calls to vengeance from clouding their judgment.
However, if you infringed on trade routes that they laid claim to,
the Nabateans had the means and the motivation
to slaughter you mercilessly. For the Nabateans, trade was
essential to their survival, and they would protect it at all costs,
but the key to all of this, the true reason for the
Nabateans' vast wealth, was their incomparable ability
to control water in the desert. They made astounding
innovations on this front, building by far the most complex
water collection, storage, and distribution system on
the planet during their time. But when the Romans finally came knocking,
the Nabateans penchant for bartering would ultimately assist in
dismantling their civilization. Overwhelmed by the might
of the Roman empire, they chose to cut their losses
and negotiate their defeat, forgetting how they became so
successful in the first place. In the end, they simply lost
sight of their essential truth and joined the long list of
great vanished societies.
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