attempt to march through the desert in the
face of Ptolemy's army. He had, therefore, first, either to conquer or
gain the friendship of the Nabataeans, a warlike race of Arabs, who held
the north of Arabia; and then he might march by Petra, Mount Sinai, and
the coast of the Red Sea, without being in want of water for his army.
The Nabataeans were the tribe at an earlier time called Edomites. But
they lost that name when they carried it to the southern portion of
Judaea, then called Idumaea; for when the Jews regained Idumaea, they
called these Edomites of the desert Nebaoth or Nabataeans. The Nabataens
professed neutrality between Antigonus and Ptolemy, the two contending
powers; but the mild temper of Ptolemy had so far gained their
friendship that the haughty Antigonus, though he did not refuse their
pledges of peace, secretly made up his mind to conquer them. Petra, the
city of the Nabataeans, is in a narrow valley between steep overhanging
rocks, so difficult of approach that a handful of men could guard it
against the largest army. Not more than two horsemen can ride abreast
through the chasm in the rock by which it is entered from the east,
while the other entrance from the west is down a hillside too steep for
a loaded camel.

[Illustration: 062.jpg ON THE COAST OF THE RED SEA]

The Eastern proverb reminds us that "Water is the chief thing;" and
a large stream within the valley, in addition to the strength of the
fortress, made it a favourite resting-place for caravans, which, whether
they were coming from Tyre or Jerusalem, were forced to pass by this
city in their way to the Incense Country of Arabia Felix, or to the
Elanitic Gulf of the Red Sea, and for other caravans from Egypt to Dedam
on the Persian Gulf. These warlike Arabs seem to have received a toll
from the caravans, and they held their rocky fastness unconquered by
the great nations which surrounded them. Their temples and tombs were
cut out of the live rock, and hence the city was by the Jews named
Selah, (the rock), and by the Greeks named Petra, from which last the
country was sometimes called Arabia Petraea.

Antigonus heard that the Nabataeans had left Petra less guarded than
usual, and had gone to a neighbouring fair, probably to meet a caravan
from the south, and to receive spices in exchange for the woollen goods
from Tyre. He therefore sent forward four thousand light-armed foot and
six hundred horse, who overpowered the guard and seized t