A History of Sinai

by Lina Eckenstein

THE NABATEANS

THE last Pharaoh whose activity was recorded in Serabit was Ramessu VI (b.c. 1161-1156), after whose reign information about the peninsula ceased for several centuries. The road along the north was trodden by the Egyptians when the country was in friendly relation with King Solomon (b.c. 974-35) and the kings of Judæa. It was trodden also by the Assyrian armies which invaded Egypt under Esarhaddon (b.c. 670), and under Ashurbanipal (b.c. 668-626). Although we hear nothing of the sanctuary at Serabit its importance must have continued. For in the list of temples which made gifts to Nitocris on the occasion of her adoption by the Pharaoh Psamtek I (XXVI 1), about the year b.c. 654, a gift was made of a hundred deben of bread by the temples of Sais, of Buto, and by “the house of Hathor of Mafkat” i.e. Serabit, and by Per-Seped, i.e. the sanctuary of Sopd in the city of Goshen.[117]

In the third century before Christ, Egypt passed under the rule of the Ptolemies. Ptolemy Philadelphus (b.c. 250-247), a man of wide outlook, built Arsinoë (north-east of the later Suez) to serve as a port in place of the ancient Heroöpolis, which was silting up. He further sent out an expedition to explore the coasts of the Red Sea under the charge of Ariston. Diodorus Siculus (c. b.c. 20), quoting Agatharcides (b.c. 110), and the geographer Strabo (c. a.d. 24), quoting Artemidorus (b.c. 100), give an account of the information that is preserved regarding Sinai. After describing the western shore of the Red Sea with its countries and its inhabitants who were Ichthyophagoi (fish-eaters), and Troglodytes (cave-dwellers) or nomads, and the dangers which threatened shipping from storms and sand-banks, Diodorus, in his account, passed to the other side of the Gulf. Here Ariston erected an altar at Neptunium or Posidium. “From thence to the mouth of the Gulf, is a place along the sea-coast of great esteem among the inhabitants for the profit it yields them; it is called the Garden of Palm-trees (Phoenikon), because they abound there, and are so very fruitful that they yield sufficient both for pleasure and necessity. But the whole country next adjoining is destitute of rivers and brooks, and lying to the south is even burned up by the heat of the sun; and therefore this fruitful tract that lies amongst dry and barren regions (remote from tillage and improvement), and yet affords such plenty of food and provision, is justly, by the barbarians, dedicated to the gods. For there are in it many fountains and running streams as cold as snow, by which means the region from one side to the other is always green and flourishing, and very sweet and pleasant to the view. In this place there is an ancient altar of hard stone, with an inscription in old and illegible characters; where a man and a woman, that execute here the priest’s office during their lives, have the charge of the grove and altar. They are persons of quality and great men that abide here, and for fear of the beasts, have their beds (they rest upon) in the trees.”[118] In the corresponding account Strabo mentioned no altar, but the man and woman who guarded the trees.[119]

The Phoenikon or palm grove of these writers, was sometimes located at Raithou; perhaps the one at Ayun Musa is meant.

Diodorus then mentioned the Island of the Sea-calves on the coast of Arabia, and the promontory (i.e. Sinai) that shoots out towards this island, describing this as “over against Petra in Arabia and Palestine to which the Gerrhaens and Mineans bring incense.” He then mentioned the Maraneans and Garindaeans (names which recall Mara and Wadi Gharandel, the Carandar of Pliny), who dwell along the coast, and related how the Maraneans were absent on their quinquennial festival, sacrificing fattened camels to the gods of the grove and fetching spring water, when the Garindaeans killed those who were left behind and then murdered those who returned and seized their country.

According to Diodorus (still quoting Ariston) there were few harbours along the shore in the direction of the Aleanite promontory where dwelt the Arabians called Nabateans, who held not only the coast but large districts inland. The Nabateans have a special interest for Sinai, since the numerous rough rock-inscriptions along the wadis of the south, which long puzzled the learned, are now generally attributed to them.

Josephus located Nabatea between Syria and Arabia extending from the Euphrates to the Red Sea, and connected the name Nabatean with Nebajoth, whose name stands first in the confederacy of the Ishmaelite tribes (Gen. xxv. 13).[120] On the other hand Strabo, like Diodorus Siculus, located them in north-western Arabia, extending as far south as Leukokome on the Gulf of Arabia.[121]

The existence of Nabateans in districts that lay far apart is explained by the recently discovered Annals of Assyria. In the long list of peoples “Arameans all of them,” who were raided by Sennacherib (c. b.c. 705), mention is made of the Nabatu, of whom large numbers were carried off into Assyria.[122] Again, when Ashurbanipal (b.c. 668-626) set out to conquer Arabia, King Vaiteh of Arabia sought refuge with Nathan, king of Nabat, “whose place is remote.” The Nabateans were again raided, and numbers of them were transplanted. “The road to Damascus I caused their feet to tread.”[123] The remote homes of the Nabateans was attested by Makrizi († 1441), who classed them with the Magi, the Indians and the Chinese. These denied the Flood because it had never penetrated to them, and traced their origin, not to Noah, but to Kajumath.[124]

The efforts of the transplanted Nabateans to remain in touch with their home sanctuaries, may have opened their eyes to the possibilities of trade. In the fourth century before Christ, they attracted the attention of the western world by seizing Petra, the Ha-Sela of antiquity, which lay half-way between the head of the Gulf of Akaba and the Dead Sea at the point where the old gold and incense route from Arabia to Damascus was crossed by the overland route from India to Egypt. This appropriation gave the Nabateans the control of the Eastern trade. In order to check their progress Antigonus Cyclops, king of Syria and Palestine since b.c. 312, sent Athenæus and an army against them. The army reached Petra at the time when the Nabateans were absent on a pilgrimage. They easily overcame the aged, the women and children, and seized an enormous booty in spicery and silver. But the returning Nabateans overtook and well nigh destroyed the invading force. Another army was sent under Demetrius to seize Petra, and chastise the Nabateans. But these drew the enemy along desert tracks, and the invaders achieved nothing.[125]

Henceforth the Nabateans acted as a recognised nation, whose kings from about b.c. 200 held their own by the side of the kings of Judæa. Of these kings Aretas I (Arabic Harith), the contemporary of Antiochus Epiphanes (b.c. 173-164), received the fugitive Hasmoneans (2 Macc. v. 8); Malchos I dwelt at Petra and struck a coinage; Aretas III was master of Damascus and king of Cœle-Syria. Their control over the trade-routes extended in many directions. Along the Mediterranean on the north coast of Sinai they secured a foothold far beyond the limit of Cœle-Syria almost as far as the Tanitic mouth of the Nile. For excavations made at Qasr Ghait or Ouait between Kantara and Katia led to the discovery of a Nabatean sanctuary with a Nabatean inscription.[126]