Economy and Trade

Caravan trade was central to Nabataean prosperity. Merchants moved incense, aromatics, spices, and other valuable goods through Arabia toward Mediterranean markets.

Petra served as a major commercial center, while Hegra and other settlements helped support long-distance movement of people and goods.

Nabataean engineers built cisterns, dams, channels, and reservoirs that made life and farming possible in an arid environment. Agriculture, livestock, pottery production, and local markets complemented long-distance trade.

Trade routes and the political conditions surrounding them changed over time. Nabataean prosperity cannot be explained by a single unchanging monopoly on commerce.