Prom most of these and other considerations we think there is no reasonable doubt that the Nabathasans of Ara- bia Petrsea were the same pc.,|,le as the Nabat nf Chul- diea; though at wll;\t anriml epocli Wir \\r-[rv\i M'tlle- ment was formed remain- iinkiiuwu. 'I'liat ii was wn o{ any importance until at'ier the captivity appeals iVoni the notices of the inhabitants of Edoin in the canonical books, and their absolute silence respecting the Nabathaeans, except (if Nebaioth be identified witli them) the passage in Isaiah (Ix, 7).
Lastly, did the Nabathreans, or Nabat, derive their name, and were they in i>art descended, from Nebaioth, son of Ishmael ? Josephus says that Naiiataja was in- habited by the twelve sons oflshmael ; and Jerome, "Ne- baioth oinnis regio ab Enphrate us(iue ad :Mare Piubrnm Nabathena usque hodie dicitur, quffi pars Aiabue est" ((■inuiuent. in Gen. xxv, 13). Qnatremeie rejects the iden- tification for an etymological reason- the change uUh to t; but this change is not nnusual ; in woids Aiabii-ized from the Greek the Hive change of t generally .ncurs. Renan, on the other hand, accepts it, regarding Nebai- oth, after his manner, merely as an ancient name uncon- nected with Biblical history. The Arabs call Nebaioth Sabit, and do not connect him with tlie Nabat, to whom they give a different descent; but all their Abrahamic genealogies come from late Jews, aud are utterly un- trustworthy. When we remember the darkness that en- shrouds the early history of the "sons of the concubines" after they were ieut into the east country, we hesitate to deny a relatiduship between peoples whose names are strikingly similar, dwelling iu the same tract. It is pos- sible that Nebaioth went to the far east, to the country of his grandfather Abraham, intermarried with the Chaldas- ans, and gave birth to a mixed race, the Nabat. Instances of ancient tribes adopting the name of more modern oues, with which tnev have become fused, are frequent in the history of the A"rabs [see Midian] ; but we think it is also admissible to hold that Nebaioth was so named liy the sacred historian because he intermarried with the Nabat. It is, however, safest to leave unsettled the identification of Nebaioth aud Nabat until another link be added to the chain that at iireseut seems to connect them.
We have not entered into the subject of the language
XEBAIOTII
894
XEBAIOTH
of the Nabathaeans. The little that is known of it tends to gtrengtheii the theory of the Clialdseuu origin of thai people. The due de Luj'nes, iu a paper on the coins of the latter iu the Revue yumismatique (new series, vol. iii, 1S5S), adduces facts to show that they called themselves Nabat, IIJ-S. It is remarkable that while remnauts of the Nabat are mentioned by trustworthy Arab writers as existing in their own day, no Arab record connecting that people with Petra has" been found. Caii<sin believes this to have arisen from the Chaldaean speech of the Na- bath^ans, and their corruption of Arabic (Esmimr I'Uiat. den AraheH avant VIslamUme, i, 38).
It is thus doubtless true that a tribe called Nabat ex- isted at a comparatively early period in Mesopotamia; but may they not have been a branch of the family of | Ncbaiotli V May they not have migrated thither, as j sections of the great tribes of Arabia are wont to do ' now — for instance, the Sliummar, whose home is .Jebel Shuramar, in Central Arabia, where they have villages and settlements; but large sections of the tribe have long been naturalized among the rich pastures of Mes- 1 opotarnia. In fact, there are few of the great Arabian tribes which do not pay periodical visits to the banks of the Kui)hrates and Tigris, and which have not branches established there. So it probably was with tlie tribe of Nebaioth. They visited Mesopotamia, attracted by the j water and pasture; then some of them settled there; then from close intercour.se with the learned Chalda^ans, they may have acciuired a taste for their literature, and may have in part adopted their language and their habits of life ; and at length, when driven out of Cen- tral Asia by the rising power of the Assyrians, Jledes, and Persians, they carried these back among their breth- ren in Arabia. Such, at least, is a probable solution of a difficult question. There can be no doubt that the descendants of Nebaioth settled originally in and around Edom ; that in the time of Isaiah they were an influen- tial tribe living in Western Arabia beside the children of Kedar ; that the Nubathmans occupietl the same re- gion in the time of the Maccabees (I ^Macc. v, 24 sq., B.C. cir. 101; comp. 1 Mace, ix, 33-37; Josephus, Ant. xii, 8, 3); and that Josephus considered these Na- bathajans to be the descendants of Ishmael. From these facts it may be fairly inferred that the Xcih.i- thtBuns of the classic authors, the tribe Nebaioth of the sacred authors, and the Beni-Nabnt of the Arabs, were identical (Forster, Geor/. of Arabia, i, 209 sq. ; Kalisch, On Gen. j). 481 ; Jerome, Comment, in Isaiam, Ix, 7).
It would appear that the descendants of Esau, having at first sought an alliance with the Ishmaelitcs among the moinitains of Edom, afterwards succeeded in forcing them to leave their strongholds and migrate to the des- erts of Arabia. After a long interval the Ishmaelites returned, and, having expelled the Edomites (or Idu- mwatis), took possession of their ancient country. The date of this concjuest is iniknown ; but it was probablj'' about the time of the second captivity, for then the Persians were all-powerful in Central Asia, and would naturally drive back the Arab tribes that hiid settled there (comp. Diod. Sic. ii, 48) ; and then also we know- that the Idum;eans, as if driven from their own moun- tains, settled in Southern Talestine. But be this as it may, we learn that about I5.C. 312 Antigomis, one of the successors of Alexander the Creat, sent an army against the Nabathxans of Petra ; the city was taken and plinidered in the absence of the men, who were at the time atteniling a great fair in another locality; on the retreat of the army, however, with their booty, they were attacked and cut to i)ieccs by the Nabathieans. Another expedition was sent, but was unsuccessful (Diod. Sic. xix, 104-110). At this period the Naba- thasans, like their forefathers, were rich in flocks and herds; they were also, like the Ishmaelites in the time of Jacob, the carriers of spices and merchandise between Arabia and Egyjit ; and for the protectitm of their wealth and the furtherance of their commerce they had erect- ed strong cities iu the interior of their country, Edom, and on tlie shores of the /Elanitic Gulf. Idum:ea Prop- er, or Edom, now became the centre of their ijillueuce