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00:00I'm in the ancient city of Hegra in modern-day Saudi Arabia. It's a mysterious place, surrounded
00:18by magnificent rock-cut tombs, built 2,000 years ago by a people who had far-reaching
00:26impact on world culture, but this site is only now being fully explored.
00:36So there's at least 90% of this site still waiting to be archaeologically researched,
00:45but this is one of the main areas that the archaeologists are working on right now.
00:49I can't quite believe that I'm being allowed to because I can see pottery everywhere.
00:54This UNESCO World Heritage Site is the front line of research into an enigmatic and once neglected civilisation.
01:04Okay, hang on, this is interesting over here. I've just got to get a bit closer to have a look.
01:14Oh, God, it's so exciting. It's so exciting. There's just so much to discover. Incredible.
01:24The people who built this place were the Nabataeans, major players in the ancient world,
01:30whose power and influence spanned empires. But then it seems they vanish from the history books.
01:39I'm here searching for clues that could tell us what happened to them.
01:43Something that might explain why such an illustrious people aren't better known.
01:54There's something here that is truly remarkable. It's an inscription that's only recently been
02:02discovered and it's very delicate, so it's been protected here.
02:05OK, so I am right in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula. But this isn't written in a Nabataean language
02:17with a Nabataean script. What you're looking at is Latin, which is the language of the ancient Romans.
02:26And you can just about make up here the beginning of the word centurion. So this would have been left
02:32here by Roman soldiers. So this must be evidence that can teach us more about the fate of the Nabataean civilization.
02:43So what part did the mighty Romans play in their apparent disappearance?
02:51I'm hitting the road in a once in a lifetime journey across the ancient world.
02:57And epic quest from the historic settlements of Al-Ula in Saudi Arabia.
03:07And the wonder of Petra in Jordan.
03:13To Greek islands like Kos and the Bay of Naples in Italy.
03:19With a network of world-class researchers, we'll be analysing brand new evidence.
03:30Oh, look at this.
03:31Testing exciting theories.
03:35Revealing new finds.
03:36You're making history, McKaylee, by what you're discovering here.
03:42And exploring uncharted territory.
03:45Oh, you can see it.
03:46All to start to reconstruct the Nabataean world.
03:50This is like a kind of postcard from the past.
03:56One in a million chance of finding a bit of pottery.
03:59That is awesome.
04:02They shared their world with some of the greatest characters in history.
04:06Queen Cleopatra, Roman emperors, Herod the Great.
04:11We'll learn from people whose heritage reaches back through the centuries to this pivotal age.
04:17Oh, it's great to be back. You look well.
04:20Yeah. Still alive.
04:21Still alive.
04:22I'm going to rediscover this overlooked culture.
04:32Reveal how it still shapes our world.
04:35And try to solve the riddle of their mysterious bait.
04:41I want to bring them from the edges back to the centre of history, where they belong.
04:46These geniuses of history, who called themselves the Nabatu,
04:59are the key to a lost world.
05:16OK, so I've already discovered how the Nabataeans built a fabulously wealthy culture and civilisation.
05:27In my journey so far, I've explored their breathtaking tombs.
05:32Travelled in their footsteps along the incense roads of the Arabian Peninsula.
05:38Adventured on boats and under the waves of the Red Sea,
05:41as far as an ancient Roman megaport in the Bay of Naples.
05:47Next, my investigation has brought me to modern-day Jordan.
05:53Now, I'm on a quest to discover how the Nabataeans' success made rivals out of some of the most
06:00ruthless and powerful empires in the ancient world.
06:03How they managed to resist the might of their enemies for 400 years,
06:09and to try to uncover the truth about the fate of the Nabataeans.
06:15What really happened to them?
06:21On this, the final leg of my Nabataean odyssey,
06:25I'm going to find out if their staggering success, which brought them serious wealth,
06:31perhaps also sowed the seeds of their civilisation's downfall.
06:37My investigative journey started here, in what's now Saudi Arabia,
06:43in the city of Hegra, with its stunning tombs.
06:46Hegra was a southern outpost of Nabataean territories, a key staging post in their trading empire.
06:56Their precious cargo included an ancient petrochemical, bitumen and frankincense.
07:04The ultimate destination of that incense were the major Mediterranean markets of the Greek,
07:11the Egyptian and the Roman worlds.
07:15And the profits from that vast trade largely ended up in the capital of the Nabataean kingdom,
07:23the place that they called Rachmu, but that we now know by its Greek name, Petra.
07:32And like the Nabataeans, I'm gonna follow the money and head right here.
07:41I'm gonna follow the money and head right here.
07:512,000 years ago, Petra was the central hub for trade, not just of incense, but also spices from
07:58southern Asia, pearls from India and silk from China. Petra was the economic jewel of the kingdom,
08:08and the administrative, cultural and religious heart of Nabataean territory,
08:14which covered lands in the Arabian Peninsula, modern day Egypt and Syria,
08:20even controlling on more than one occasion, the iconic city of Damascus.
08:26I've got the chance to see the land from a whole new angle,
08:30which I hope will help me to show you why Petra holds such a unique place in history.
08:43Operator to the ground clearance for takeoff.
08:50Perfect. Are you fine?
08:52Good.
08:52Good.
08:54Yeah, I'm holding. I'm holding on.
08:55Thank you. Thank you.
09:05Thank you, for grants.
09:06I mean, it's, you know, you kind of read about the scale of the Nabataean project,
09:35but it's only when you come up here you really understand how massive it was.
09:42The sheer vastness of the city is revealed, stretching over 50 square miles.
09:52With an estimated population of 30,000, a glorious jumble of tombs, temples and markets.
10:00A grand theatre and opulent villas sitting beside a bustling urban heart.
10:15So those, see the mountaintops up here, so those have got shrines and sanctuaries and temples on.
10:22It just makes you respect them, the fact that they met this incredibly dramatic landscape face-on and kind of used it to their own ends.
10:31Because, I mean, just look how harsh this landscape looks.
10:34But they're using every bit of it to create a culture and a civilisation.
10:39Petra was sustained by a sprawling 35-mile-long network of hidden underground pipes,
10:49transporting and filtering rain and spring water to thousands of hidden cisterns and basins buried in the city rock.
10:58Ancient sources and archaeological remains evidenced the farming of almonds, figs, grapes, dates, olives.
11:06And the Nabataeans created a series of closely guarded enclaves in the high-sided valleys of the city.
11:17So that one in particular, that's called Little Petra.
11:21And again, it's very easy to protect and defend, and that was where the kind of centre of trading was.
11:25It really feels like the people of Petra used every geographical feature to their best advantage,
11:33each hurdle and obstacle harnessed to turn the city into a fortress.
11:38So this down here, and this is natural kind of canyon or gully, that was one of the main entry points to the city.
11:48And you can see it just winds its way through the rock, so it was incredibly well defended.
11:53And actually where I'm going to head to next.
11:55There, I'll discover how the Nabataeans built one of history's greatest wonders.
12:06A fortified vision of paradise.
12:14Down on the ground, it's time to explore Petra.
12:18Down on the ground, it's time to explore Petra, starting in an extraordinary entrance to the city.
12:26This is the Sikh.
12:29The word literally means a shaft or a gorge, and it runs for a kilometre.
12:34It's over half a mile into the centre of the city itself.
12:39And it's got its own power.
12:41It's kind of got its own message, don't you think?
12:43It's saying that this is somewhere that is really special, that's worth protecting.
12:51The Twisting Canyon is a seemingly never-ending path through towering rocks.
12:58Both hiding and guarding one way into the capital of the Nabataeans' empire.
13:05This is the place that we now call the treasury.
13:10In fact, it is a giant, rock-cut tomb.
13:24Somewhere that protected not just wealth, but the dead.
13:29It's fitting that this tomb was constructed for one of the kingdom's greatest ruling dynasties.
13:41So, this is almost certainly made for our old friend, King Aratas IV,
13:47who ruled at the time that Hegra was really flourishing.
13:51And this was a key moment in world history, in a time when Petra was really buzzing.
13:59Aratas and his powerful wife, Huldu, took the throne in the year 9 BCE.
14:06A five-decade-long rule saw Petra claim geopolitical centre stage.
14:13Aratas and Huldu were determined to build alliances with their neighbours,
14:18but occasionally had to navigate diplomatic scandal.
14:22Aratas IV's daughter married Herod Antipas, the king of Judea.
14:30But Herod put aside the girl and took another wife,
14:33sparking one of the most famous stories of the ancient world.
14:38John the Baptist, no less, protested against this disrespectful divorce
14:44and ended up being beheaded, and King Aratas was so offended,
14:49he took his Nabataean army and invaded Judea's kingdom.
14:54When you come here, you start to really understand
14:57how intertwined the Nabataeans are in those other histories
15:02that we might be a bit more familiar with.
15:04Vast riches from trade meant Petra's influence was more than just political.
15:16Because Petra was the capital of the wealthy Nabataean kingdom,
15:20the quality of some of the artworks here are just extraordinary,
15:25and these are just some that have been kept in the storerooms.
15:28Petra's stonemasons and artists created much more than just monumental tombs.
15:36Their work includes stone capitals of animals as diverse as dolphins and elephants,
15:43Greek-inspired deities, and depictions of everyday people.
15:50Ancient authors like Diodorus, Strabo and Pliny tell us Petra was a thriving oasis.
15:58Expert archaeologists, like Dr Sahar Hazanay,
16:03are still uncovering evidence of this fertile past.
16:09I love your companion.
16:11He's my assistant.
16:12Your new assistant.
16:15Hello.
16:16Hello, beautiful.
16:18Oh, sorry to scare you away.
16:20Oh, how lovely to meet you.
16:22Hi.
16:22Dr Sahar is pioneering the use of luminescence dating,
16:26basically the science of sunlight.
16:30It enables her to precisely date the incredible technology and engineering
16:34that made Petra the envy of the ancient world.
16:39I'm trying here to collect rocks for luminescence dating,
16:42trying to date the time of construction of the terrace walls here.
16:46It's almost like you're sort of doing the history of sunlight somehow, is that right?
16:50Yes, it can determine when it was last exposed to light or when it was last buried.
16:55So, I mean, what's this telling you about the Nabataeans and their lives here?
16:59I think they were the master in the water and hydraulic system engineering.
17:04They did not only build the water cisterns and the chanas or the terraces here,
17:09but they also created gardens, pools, fountains,
17:13to make it more like a lavish and luxurious place to stay.
17:17It's almost because they need for their status and word of mouth
17:19for people to come back and say, oh, have you heard about Petra?
17:21You know, they've got these fish ponds and, like, ornamental parks and things.
17:25So, they literally converted the desert into, like, a paradise.
17:29What a beautiful idea.
17:30It's that they're kind of almost paradise makers,
17:33making this bit of their earth a paradise.
17:36Yes, it is.
17:37Even at the moment, Zodan is facing this dryness and lack of water.
17:41So, it's kind of a knowledge that we can still learn from it.
17:46Greek historian Strabo described springs in abundance,
17:51both for domestic purposes and for watering gardens.
17:56We've gathered the evidence to recreate an impression
17:59of what this gorgeous villa might have looked like,
18:02with pleasure gardens featuring shrubs and palms,
18:06mini bridges, little lakes.
18:11where there's only now sand and rock.
18:17The Nabataeans transformed the baking valleys and gorges of Petra
18:21into a pearl of antiquity.
18:25Nice to meet you again.
18:26Nice to see you again.
18:27Nice to see you again.
18:28Nice to see you.
18:28You are a wicker.
18:29Before I leave, I really want to catch up with someone.
18:34You look well.
18:36Yeah.
18:36Still alive.
18:37Still alive.
18:40You have a cup of tea now.
18:42Yes, lovely.
18:44Bedouin Taufik was raised on stories about the lush, glory years
18:48of Petra's abundant payday 2,000 years ago.
18:53Here is a place where we squeeze the grapes, you know, to make the wine.
18:58So they would have made their own wine here,
19:00because I know they drank a lot, but there were vineyards here then too.
19:04Yeah, there is two places, one here and one in Little Petra.
19:08And brilliantly, he's cooking what I know is a culinary survivor
19:13from those days of plenty.
19:16Now, we want to put the bread in the fire.
19:19An ancient bread recipe.
19:23Nabataean bread, yeah.
19:26Taufik is baking his bread using a traditional recipe
19:30with instructions to knead the dough precisely 120 times.
19:38So good.
19:40So you just have flour, salt, oil, water.
19:43Water, yeah.
19:44So I think the recipe says sometimes olive oil,
19:47sometimes sesame oil, oil from sesame seeds.
19:50Yes, yeah.
19:51I mean, this is exactly the same as you have in this recipe book.
19:56Called the Kitab al-Tabik,
19:59it's a historic collection of Arabian cookery from over 1,000 years ago.
20:03The recipe's name, then and now, Nabataean bread,
20:10clearly points to origins back in classical times.
20:15So how long does it have to cook for?
20:17From 15 to 20 minutes.
20:20Taufik, this is so exciting.
20:22You know that I love anything to do with history,
20:24but I'm just about to kind of taste history here.
20:28Kneading the bread over 100 times and baking it in hot sand and ash
20:35makes it the right texture to transport on long desert journeys.
20:42A little hot, watch.
20:44Hot?
20:45Yeah.
20:46Oh, it smells good, though.
20:47Very hot.
20:54Very good.
20:55Oh, that is so...
20:58I'm so happy, Taufik, I can't tell you.
21:00I'm so happy.
21:01Yeah, welcome.
21:02Cheers.
21:03Very good for the tea.
21:04A little reminder that the Nabataean world is still present in our lives.
21:10Another of Petra's landmarks embodies traditions
21:13as distinctively Nabataean as Taufik's delicious bread.
21:18The Grand Theatre in the centre of the city.
21:25This was commissioned by King Aratas IV,
21:29and it's based on Greek theatres
21:31that are first built around 2,500 years ago.
21:35But something that makes it specifically Nabataean
21:38is that it isn't built of stone or wood.
21:41It's carved out of the sheer rock itself.
21:45But there's evidence that something may have taken place here
21:52other than theatrical productions,
21:55something that makes it even more Nabataean.
22:00There's a really strong chance
22:02that it's somewhere that the Nabataeans could come to chat
22:05for kind of political debate
22:07so that they could consult amongst themselves
22:09about, you know, town life and what was going on.
22:12One of our Greek writers tells us
22:16that even rulers were expected
22:18to join in these discussions
22:19in Petra's public buildings.
22:23So Strabo says,
22:25the Nabataean king is so democratic,
22:28sometimes he serves people drinks himself.
22:32He has to report back on his leadership
22:34in the popular assembly, so here,
22:36and sometimes even his personal life
22:39is put up for scrutiny.
22:42And I can tell you,
22:43that doesn't happen anywhere else
22:45in the classical world.
22:48I'm building a picture
22:49of how the city and culture of Petra
22:52became a real beacon of sophistication in antiquity,
22:55from the start of their glory years
22:58in the 4th century BCE.
22:59Unfortunately, it didn't take long
23:04for the jewel in the Nabataean crown
23:06to attract jealous attention.
23:11The first challenge came from an ancient Greek power,
23:15giving us our earliest accounts
23:17of the Nabataean kingdom by an outsider,
23:20a Greek general,
23:21by the name of Hieronymus of Cardia.
23:24By the 4th century BCE,
23:28the armies of Alexander the Great
23:31had built a powerful and acquisitive empire,
23:34stretching from his homeland in Macedonia
23:37to the Indian subcontinent.
23:40After Alexander's death,
23:42one of his successors,
23:44a Macedonian leader, Antigonus,
23:46decided to expand his territory
23:49and marched on a Nabataean stronghold,
23:52probably Petra, in 312 BCE.
23:56When the men of Petra were away
23:58at the ancient equivalent of a trade fair,
24:01the Macedonian Greek army attacked
24:04and there were 4,000 of them with 600 cavalry,
24:07so it must have been absolutely petrifying.
24:10The women and old men and children of the city
24:13had been left safe up on a high rock,
24:16but the Macedonians dragged them down
24:19and seized them along with 500 talents of silver.
24:26The absent Nabataean warriors
24:28heard about the military disaster.
24:33They tracked the Macedonian army
24:36on their march home
24:37using their superior desert skills.
24:408,000 warriors mounted on camels
24:47fell on the Macedonian army
24:49and reeked a devastating revenge.
24:52They slaughtered the men with javelins
24:55and they seized back their women,
24:57their children and their treasure.
25:02After the battles were won,
25:04the Nabataeans did something truly unprecedented.
25:08Instead of pressing home their advantage,
25:15they made their peace with Antigonus.
25:17All they wanted was to go back to how things were.
25:20As they said to the defeated Macedonian ruler,
25:24Please, we're asking you and your father not to harm us.
25:35Withdraw your army.
25:38Let's be friends.
25:43But in the next centuries,
25:44another great military power arose,
25:46an empire that wouldn't be put off so easily.
25:53In the final part of my journey,
25:55I'm going to find out what happened
25:57when the Nabataeans faced the might of ancient Rome.
26:01I've travelled back to the ancient city of Hegra,
26:13in modern Saudi Arabia,
26:14searching for clues of the fate of the Nabataeans.
26:18There's over 90% of the site still left to excavate.
26:30And this is one of the key areas of archaeological interest right now.
26:34And it looks as though what it's revealing is just incredible.
26:39Archaeologists have made a recent discovery
26:47that I think helps us understand the fate
26:50of the independent kingdom of Nabataean.
26:55On the southern edge of the city is a giant crag
26:58with the ruins of what looks like a mysterious ancient fort.
27:03Oh, my God, look at this.
27:12Look, look, look!
27:14So there's a lot going on here.
27:16The light's picking out this inscription round the rim here.
27:19And it's not written in Nabataean,
27:23it's written in Latin, the language of the Romans.
27:26I think it's... This is some kind of storage basin.
27:30Possibly for water, I think probably for...
27:32for food.
27:33And it looks like it's the name of the guy
27:35who's in charge of all the supplies.
27:38And then here, look!
27:40Oh, look at this!
27:42So, this says leg three.
27:47And there's a sea wine that's been just broken off at the end.
27:50So I reckon this must be the third legion, Cyrenaica.
27:55So they're telling us that they were here on this southern outpost.
27:59The third Cyrenaica was a Roman legion,
28:02founded by Mark Antony in around 35 BCE,
28:05headquartered 700 miles away in Egypt.
28:09This inscription must mean that legion came here.
28:14I guess now the Romans are in charge here,
28:16so they're literally stamping their mark on the place.
28:20Oh, that's amazing!
28:22This doesn't happen often.
28:23This really doesn't happen often,
28:25that you come to a place and suddenly
28:27the evidence appears in front of your eyes.
28:32And there are more traces of Roman presence.
28:35Around the corner is one of my favourite new discoveries
28:38from the Nabataean world.
28:40What I think you've got is the remains of a hypercourced system,
28:45and a hypercourced was a kind of mechanism for heating rooms,
28:50something that the Romans used in Roman baths.
28:54So it could well be...
28:56We are thousands of miles from Rome here,
28:58but there are home comforts, a little bit of, you know, bath luxury
29:03into the middle of the Arabian desert.
29:10The fort at Hegra shows sure signs
29:12of Roman occupation of the city and surrounding oasis.
29:18My tech team have been building a 3D model of Hegra,
29:21based on scans of the site
29:23and reconstructing the city through history.
29:26The team are adding this latest evidence
29:30to build up their model,
29:32hoping to explain the reasons
29:34for the Romans' arrival in ancient Arabia.
29:41I think that the Romans wanted to extend their control...
29:44East.
29:45So what does that mean?
29:46Leila Naimi is one of the world's leading experts
29:49on the Nabataeans,
29:50and she's directed excavations here.
29:52She's helping us decipher the clues.
29:55If you look at the city,
29:57can you tell where there's Roman influence
29:59or even Roman presence?
30:01Yes, well, we can,
30:02because they did not put a big Roman imprint in the city.
30:06No, yeah.
30:07There's no theatre, no amphitheatre.
30:09The Roman infrastructure seems to be limited
30:12to military installations.
30:14To protect themselves,
30:16they presumably used this big outcrop,
30:18which is called the Citadel,
30:20and to make an eye-watching post.
30:22Yes.
30:23And from there,
30:24they would be able to watch anybody coming from the south.
30:26Wow.
30:27It could have been a tough posting.
30:28Yes.
30:29So I think I would pity the guy who would have been stationed
30:39in the Roman fort of Hegra,
30:41eating camel meat every day.
30:43Yeah.
30:45Dates and being...
30:46Yeah.
30:47...simmering resentment, maybe.
30:49In ancient times, Hegra was supported by a fertile oasis.
30:54Walnuts, pomegranates, cotton, coconuts,
30:57and even peaches were grown here.
30:59But surely the Romans were here for something more.
31:05Leila's team have identified an inscription
31:07that explains what they were doing
31:09in this distant corner of the ancient world.
31:14You've got that incredible inscription
31:16mentioning Marcus Aurelius,
31:18kind of beautiful, painted in black.
31:20What you're showing me is a Latin inscription
31:22of which there are very few examples in the world,
31:25and it's a masterpiece.
31:26It's a dedication to Jupiter, Hamon,
31:33which is the god of the third legion, Cyrenaica.
31:40And possibly there's a small s at the end.
31:44It is possible that means stationari.
31:47What does that stationari mean?
31:49It's...
31:50A stationarius is a guy who is responsible
31:54of controlling people on the routes and saying, you know,
31:58everybody passing by, they would say,
32:00well, show me your ID or show me your passage permit.
32:06Yeah.
32:07At that time.
32:08That's what a thought that is.
32:10So they're not quite border control,
32:11but they're sort of customs control.
32:13And so they would...
32:14That means that the Romans have completely taken over
32:17the trade routes from the Nabataeans.
32:19I imagine that must have been frustrating for the Nabataeans
32:22because this has been their routes, you know, their road.
32:24They've been in control of this.
32:25Then suddenly you've got someone telling you what to do.
32:28And what not to do.
32:31Yes.
32:33The invaders took over the city
32:35with its abundant water supply,
32:37thriving agriculture,
32:39and most importantly,
32:41control of the incense roads.
32:44Mounting evidence of direct Roman rule
32:47is forcing historians to redraw the map of the Roman world.
32:52It's just a reminder that these places that we think of wrongly,
32:55as at the edges of things,
32:57that they're hyper-connected.
32:59You have to even think of even further than that,
33:02because if you look at maps of the Roman Empire on the internet,
33:06they're wrong,
33:07because this whole part of Northwest Arabia
33:10was part of the Roman kingdom.
33:13This is the southernmost outpost as far as we know.
33:16Outpost, yes.
33:17A permanent outpost, yes.
33:19Yeah, incredible.
33:22I want to find evidence for how and when this Roman takeover happened.
33:32Brilliant clues are in these tiny silver coins
33:36from the reign of one of Rome's greatest military leaders,
33:39an emperor who led the last great expansion of Rome's borders,
33:44a campaign of conquest that started in Eastern Europe.
33:48Now, this rather incredible little coin,
33:51was minted by the emperor Trajan to celebrate his triumph
33:56over the ancient province of Dacia.
33:59Dacia roughly equates to modern-day Romania,
34:03and for the Romans it was a territory rich in gold and silver and in people.
34:09So, on the coin, you've got the emperor Trajan, as you'd expect on one side,
34:16and then on the reverse, you've got Dacia itself incarnated
34:21as somebody who's been completely humiliated and defeated
34:24with their hands tied behind their backs, sitting on a pile of weapons.
34:29The Romans often used coins like this as really clever tools of propaganda.
34:37The conquest of Dacia began in the year 101 CE,
34:41and then, the following decade, Trajan invaded the Parthian Empire.
34:47He also turned his attention south to the Nabataean kingdom,
34:51known at the time by its Latin name, Arabia Petraea.
34:56His success there was immortalised in another very different coin.
35:04So, here's the emperor Trajan again,
35:07and on the other side, you've got Arabia personified as a camel,
35:12and that's Rome standing above Arabia.
35:15The figure of Rome is offering the camel what's either a palm leaf,
35:19which was a symbol both of victory and of peace,
35:23or it's a frankincense branch.
35:26I don't know if you agree, but this feels like a very different vibe.
35:30There's a different kind of story being told here.
35:33This isn't all about subjugation,
35:36and the words used are really significant.
35:39So, we're told that when the Romans took over the province of Arabia,
35:43it wasn't captor, captured, it was acquisitor, acquired.
35:51The difference between violent capture of Dacia, captor,
35:55and more gentle connotations of Arabia, acquisitor,
36:00feels hugely significant.
36:03There are also no written records of a conquest by military force here.
36:07So, for centuries, historians have believed that the acquisition of Navatea
36:11was indeed a peaceful, more an absorption into the empire.
36:16But, just as I was planning my journey here, an extraordinary bit of new evidence appeared.
36:25So, what you're looking at here is actually satellite imagery, so taken from space.
36:32A team from Oxford University, headed by Michael Fragley,
36:39is using the satellites to scour almost a million square miles of Arabian desert.
36:45What they found may just cast doubts on this cosy story of a peaceful transition.
36:51And they are convinced that these things, these very distinctive shapes,
36:59and what are called playing card shapes, that these are actually Roman camps
37:04that are used during a hostile takeover.
37:07And these are slap-pang in the middle of Nabatean territory.
37:14So, I've got to go and find out what's going on.
37:18I'm heading to the site to see for myself if there is a violent struggle for the control of Nabatea.
37:33The mysterious shapes in the desert, suspected Roman camps,
37:37are in an extremely remote area on the border between Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
37:43Not an easy place to get to.
37:46But let's see the mark another day.
37:48You are the best place to get to the desert.
37:50Let's try to come around.
37:57Bob Bewley is an aerial archaeologist,
37:59who'd been working in the Middle East for more than 20 years.
38:07Together, we're going to fly with 8th Squadron,
38:10the Royal Jordanian Air Force, to take a closer look.
38:13We had to cross 250 miles of desert to see if those playing card shapes
38:20that were first spotted from space really are Roman camps.
38:26Bob, so where are we heading? What direction?
38:28We're heading south-east to the Saudi border to Lumpur,
38:32three Roman camps.
38:34So it's really exciting because the one we're heading to has never been photographed from the air before.
38:42But first, we're going to have to find them from Michael Fradley's coordinates.
38:49Then, after an hour of flying across what looks like featureless wilderness,
38:53we spot some familiar outlines in the sand.
38:57Yeah, hard round, hard round.
38:59Yeah, we've got it. Yeah, yeah, there it is.
39:01See it? Yeah, yeah.
39:03Oh, yes!
39:04Yeah, yeah, yeah.
39:05That's perfect.
39:06And if we can get as close to it as possible, that's quite nice.
39:09They're in playing card shape.
39:11And what's very distinctive, and that's why I'm really excited to see this one,
39:15is to see what the nature of the entrances are.
39:18Because that will help us definitely say that that is clearly a Roman camp.
39:22We immediately radio back to the squadron, asking for permission to land.
39:31It's granted, but a shortage of fuel on the long flight back to base limits us to 15 minutes on the ground.
39:43We become possibly the first people to set foot here in 2,000 years.
39:49We've just got to keep our eyes peeled in case there's any archaeology here.
39:54Yeah, yeah.
39:55The pilots spotted this, they thought it was digging.
39:58I think that's an animal hole.
39:59Yes.
40:00But it might be worth us just going to have a look over there.
40:02Yeah.
40:03If that's all right.
40:04Yeah.
40:05Because even if it's an animal hole, the animals might have turfed some stuff out.
40:09They might have pulled some stuff out.
40:10It's worth having a look, isn't it?
40:11Yeah, it's definitely an animal hole, isn't it?
40:14Yeah.
40:15But we can't see any pottery or anything.
40:17No pottery, no.
40:18No.
40:19Yeah.
40:20Bob believes that the position of the suspected camps is more evidence that these sites show
40:24Roman military activity.
40:27There are three Roman camps.
40:29And the theory is that they started at Bayer, which is an oasis, because you can't do anything
40:34without water.
40:35No.
40:36And the distance between Bayer and the first camp is 23 miles, and they're exactly equidistant
40:43all the way along.
40:44So this is classic military.
40:46We're going to go in a straight line.
40:47Nothing is going to stop us.
40:4923 miles is more than a day's march on foot, which is why Bob thinks these camps could be for a
40:57large detachment of Roman cavalry.
41:00I mean, it does, because that looks kind of like an arrow straight line.
41:05So there's definitely something being planned.
41:07Definitely.
41:08It's a planned expedition.
41:09Then it's knowing the predictability of the military mind and the Roman mind.
41:12This shows there was clearly a military strength there.
41:15Yeah.
41:16And I'm very happy they're confirmed.
41:18Yeah.
41:21With time running out, the team makes a stunning discovery.
41:27Faraz, have you got something?
41:31Really?
41:33Whoa!
41:35So what was it?
41:36One in a million chance of finding a bit of pottery?
41:38Yes, that's what I said.
41:39It's happening now.
41:40That's what I said.
41:41Roman Nabataean.
41:43Excuse me.
41:44Yeah, there's loads of it.
41:46Wow, there's loads of it.
41:47Loads of charms.
41:48I don't know if this is a remains of a print or something.
41:51Yeah.
41:52There's a handle there, look.
41:53Yeah, I've got a handle here.
41:54Yeah, yeah, yeah.
41:55And for a handle.
41:56Yeah, yeah.
41:57Wow.
41:58There you go.
41:59And this is the eggshell.
42:00And it is.
42:01It's Nabataean, isn't it?
42:02Nabataean eggshell.
42:03Wow.
42:04No question.
42:05Even I know that.
42:06So how can you tell that's Nabataean, not Roman?
42:08Just from the nature of the pottery and the fineness of that.
42:13Yeah.
42:14You would say, wouldn't you?
42:15And the colour too.
42:16Yeah, the colour as well.
42:17Wouldn't you say for us?
42:18Yeah.
42:19Yeah.
42:20That is awesome.
42:21There is, look, there's tonnes.
42:22Wow.
42:23So there, that's definitely, you see this painting?
42:25Yes.
42:26So that and the very fine stuff, that.
42:29Never thought we would find that.
42:31And this is just exactly as the Romans left it.
42:34It's been untouched ever since.
42:36That's just remarkable.
42:37Which is amazing.
42:38That's remarkable.
42:39And what this little bit of Nabataean...
42:41Yes.
42:42What this little bit of Nabataean pottery is doing here.
42:44So does that mean their auxiliaries fighting with them
42:47or the Nabataeans have come in or they're just...
42:50Or they just brought Nabataean pottery.
42:51Yeah.
42:52You know?
42:53But before we have a chance to investigate
42:55this possible Nabataean incursion further,
42:58we get the call from the pilot that our time is up.
43:01So just for the chopper actually leaves,
43:04we just found a little bit with these really distinctive ridges on.
43:06So that tells us that's Roman theory of Nabataean.
43:10And now we're leaving everything that we found on site.
43:13Yeah.
43:14OK.
43:15OK, let's go.
43:16Let's go, let's go.
43:17Come on.
43:19We leave the site convinced that this was indeed a Roman military camp
43:24and with evidence of Nabataean presence.
43:28The Nabataeans were pragmatic and adaptable
43:38and mainly interested in commercial advantage.
43:41So maybe they could see some benefits
43:43in being absorbed under the wing of the Romans.
43:51But also, you know,
43:53thinking of those new discoveries in the desert,
43:56of the Nabataean pottery inside the Roman camps,
44:00maybe that is evidence of a cancer attack.
44:03Maybe it's the Nabataeans fighting back
44:06and dealing with the Roman incursion on their own terms.
44:13Whether or not the Nabataeans fought back,
44:15there's clear evidence that the Romans deployed their military might
44:19inside the borders of the Nabataean kingdom.
44:22Either before or after they took control.
44:29I'm heading back to the Nabataean city of Hegra,
44:31where I started my journey,
44:33to look for evidence of what happened to the Nabataeans
44:37after the Roman occupation.
44:39Roman emperor Trajan took control in 106 CE,
44:46but the evidence here shows that Hegra, like Petra,
44:50continued to prosper under Roman rule.
44:54Many of the most ornate buildings and tombs in Nabataean
44:58were built after the takeover.
45:01And archaeologists have uncovered sophisticated artwork here
45:09that probably dates from the Roman era.
45:14So I've just got to show you this.
45:19What you're looking at is a tiny fragment of a glass bead
45:26that was found right in the centre of the city at Hegra.
45:30Look at the decoration here.
45:32Bit by bit, we're coming face to face with the Nabataean experience.
45:37They may have been subsumed into the Roman world,
45:41but the Nabataeans ensured their influence was still felt.
45:46In the year 244 CE, a man of Arabian descent,
45:50known to contemporaries as Philip the Arab,
45:53got the top job in Rome and became Roman emperor.
45:58And in a brilliant example of cultural interconnectedness,
46:02one of the things that he did was establish a festival
46:06called the Actia Dushara Festival with games
46:09that celebrated both the Roman victory
46:12over Queen Cleopatra of Egypt at the Battle of Actium
46:16and the Nabataeans' premier god, Dushara.
46:26And what of the other men and women of the kingdom?
46:29The farmers and traders who lived here
46:31in the furthest corner of the Roman Empire?
46:34People always ask, what happened to the Nabataeans?
46:41Well, the answer is, maybe they never left.
46:46They just reinvented themselves over the centuries,
46:49adapting to new rulers, to Romans, to Byzantines, to Arab kingdoms,
46:55always preserving their know-how,
46:58but finding new ways of working with new societies.
47:09Evidence that backs up this story of continuity
47:12keeps emerging from the ground.
47:14In a Nabataean town, now called Al-Bada,
47:21on the incense road between the Red Sea, Hegra and Petra,
47:25a French and Saudi archaeological team is hard at work
47:28excavating the home of a prosperous merchant family.
47:32Initially, Guillaume Charleau and his team uncovered first-century Nabataean artefacts.
47:46We have discovered a lot of pottery from the daily life,
47:49very simple cooking pots,
47:50all these kinds of simple material that we found a bit everywhere.
47:55We also found some very thin Nabataean pottery
47:58and Nabataean ware coming from Petra,
48:01and they are very well dated from the 1st century AD.
48:06But soon, they found evidence that families
48:09were still living off this old Nabataean trade route,
48:12centuries after the Romans took over.
48:18We have many traces after the Nabataeans.
48:21In particular, this house that we have discovered
48:23has a second period of occupation during the Byzantine period,
48:27around 4th, 5th century AD.
48:30In particular, during the early Islamic period.
48:33So even if history has moved on, the people have stayed.
48:40For too long, the Nabataeans have been a people who have turned up as footnotes
48:47in the story of other civilisations that we should never forget
48:52that they had their own rich, inspiring, vital, relevant place in history.
48:58They helped to inspire our worlds.
49:02Rediscovering them is a reminder of the danger of forgetting entire cultures through time.
49:10It's time to reassess the Nabataeans' role in history,
49:17to restore them to their rightful place as a key influence
49:21whose outlook on life can have resonance in the 21st century.
49:25Their belief in the value of women, liberty and rule in consultation with the people.
49:32The Nabataeans really engaged with the world on the front foot.
49:41They were in tune with nature.
49:43They developed a huge trading empire with a steely-eyed focus on commerce.
49:50And they were adept diplomats and political players.
49:55And don't forget, they catalyzed the development of Arabic.
50:00Nabataean inscriptions, found right across this region,
50:03are an essential bridge in the development of the written language
50:07used today by nearly 400 million people worldwide.
50:12What the Nabataeans wanted more than anything else was prosperity and peace.
50:24And we know that from a single rare account of a Nabataean under attack
50:30right the way back in the 4th century BCE.
50:33I think it's one of the most moving witnesses from ancient history.
50:38We're told that this is what he said.
50:40We beg you, do us no injury.
50:45Please accept gifts from us.
50:47Regard us Nabataeans as friends in the future.
50:50Because we will never submit to your will.
50:54At the very most, all that you'll gain are a few reluctant slaves.
50:59We want to live as we want to live.
51:05What a thing to say.
51:08What a people.
51:10What a story.
51:15If you're craving something real, we've got you covered.
51:18Discover hidden truths and come face to face with extraordinary experiences.
51:23All that and more await you in our collection of documentaries on SBS On Demand.
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