Nabateans
a people of northern Arabia. They took possession of the country once occupied by the Edomites; and in the beginning of the 3d century B. C. they were one of the most powerful among the Arab tribes, warlike, with a force of 10,000 fighting men, nomadic, and busy carriers of merchandise between the East and the West. By the 1st century B. C. they had shaped their power into a kingdom; in the time of St. Paul their king Aretas, who died in A. D. 40 after a reign of 48 years, was master of Damascus and Cœle-Syria.
Trajan, in 105, captured their stronghold and put an end to their kingdom. They possessed a certain measure of culture, derived from the Syrians. The language of their coins and inscriptions is Aramaic.
NABLUS (the ancient Shechem), (corrupted from the Greek Neapolis), a town of Palestine, on the highest part of the pass, between Mounts Ebal and Gerizim, that leads from the Mediterranean to the Jordan. In the same valley or gap are Jacob's Well, the Tree of the Sanctuary, and Joseph's grave. At first a Canaanite city, it was destroyed by Abimelech, a son of Gideon the Judge. Here Rehoboam was crowned King of Israel. The place still is the religious center of the Samaritans. The Greek city gave birth to Justin Martyr, and suffered during the Crusades.