Three centuries until they were swallowed up by the roman empire. Now all that s left are the enigmatic remains of their great desert cities of petra and hegra, in modern day jordan and saudi arabia. And this is where i have come to explore, to find out how they survived and thrived here, who they were, and even what they looked like. I want to search for clues about their world. I ll investigate their ancient sites, delving deep into their secret tombs and sanctuaries. Oh, my goodness! indiana jones, eat your heart out. Wait till you see this. I m tracking down the leading experts doing new research who will help me build up a picture of the nabataeans. They did not use slave. It s a respectful job. The secret nabataeans possessed is the knowledge of the great deserts around them. And i m going to meet the people who are living here now to try and understand what life was like then in this remarkable landscape. This is what enabled the nabataeans to trade and they re beautiful. Join
what they looked like. i want to search for clues about their world. i ll investigate their ancient sites, delving deep into their secret tombs and sanctuaries. oh, my goodness! indiana jones, eat your heart out. wait till you see this. i m tracking down the leading experts doing new research who will help me build up a picture of the nabataeans. they did not use slave. it s a respectful job. the secret nabataeans possessed is the knowledge of the great deserts around them. and i m going to meet the people who are living here now to try and understand what life was like then in this remarkable landscape. this is what enabled the nabataeans to trade and they re beautiful. join me as i uncover the secrets of the nabataeans. the nabataeans forged a successful empire around 300 bce. that s towards the end of the civilisation of the far better known ancient egyptians. they were nomads and traders who took control of the lucrative incense route all the way from modern day yemen, t
all sport voice-over: this is bbc news. we will have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. i m alice morrison, an adventurer and writer. i ve cycled across africa and run across the sahara. now i m on the trail of a mysterious and forgotten arabian civilisation the nabataeans. are we standing in the birthplace of written arabic? i think i would say that, yes. they were nomads who forged a rich civilisation here in the harsh desert conditions of western arabia from the fourth century bce. they ruled for around three centuries until they were swallowed up by the roman empire. now all that s left are the enigmatic remains of their great desert cities of petra and hegra in modern dayjordan and saudi arabia. and this is where i have come to explore, to find out how they survived and thrived here, who they were, and even what they looked like. i want to search for clues about their world. i ll investigate their ancient sites, delvin
Here now to try and understand what life was like then in this remarkable landscape. this is what enabled the nabataeans to trade, and they re beautiful. join me as i uncover the secrets of the nabataeans. i started myjourney in petra in modern dayjordan, learning about how the death obsessed nabataeans forged a sophisticated civilisation by taking control of the lucrative incense trade route. this is so impressive. now i m in north west saudi arabia on my way to hegra to go further into their world. this is where, as the nabataeans power grew, they established a second great city. unlike the close rocky valleys of petra, hegra has a much more
They ruled for around three centuries until they were swallowed up by the roman empire. now all that s left are the enigmatic remains of their great desert cities of petra and hegra in modern dayjordan and saudi arabia. and this is where i have come to explore, to find out how they survived and thrived here, who they were, and even what they looked like. i want to search for clues about their world. i ll investigate their ancient sites, delving deep into their secret tombs and sanctuaries. oh, my goodness! indiana jones, eat your heart out. wait till you see this! i m tracking down the leading experts doing new research, who will help me build up a picture of the nabataeans. they did not use slaves. it s a respectful job. the secret nabataeans possessed is the knowledge of the great deserts around them. ..and i m going to meet the people who are living