Abstract

Nabatu M1 tribal people, probably of North Arabian origin, located in eastern Babylonia. They are included in the list of thirty-five so-called Aramaean tribes conquered by the Assyrian king Tiglath-pileser III, probably in his first regnal year (745) (*Tigl. III 158–9). The Nabatu are very likely to be identified with the Nabayatu tribe, attested in the reign of the Assyrian king Ashurbanipal (668–630/627). It is possible, but by no means certain, that they were forerunners of the Nabataean Arabs of the Hellenistic age, whose chief city was Petra in Jordan.