New documentary series aims to give Nabataeans 'the respect they deserve'

Historian Bettany Hughes pieces together their fragmented history and highlights how their influence survives today

Bettany Hughes ventured deep into AlUla's deserts to film the documentary. Photo: Film AlUla

The Nabataeans are a civilisation shrouded in mystery. The ancient inhabitants of northern Arabia and the southern Levant are best known for their monumental tombs that are carved out of rock cliffs. These ruins in Petra and AlUla are major tourist attractions, admired for how they combine Mesopotamian, Phoenician, Hellenistic and Arabian architectural elements.

But who were the Nabataeans, really? A new documentary series aims to tell the story of this ancient civilisation like never before, showing how they have more than a few lessons to impart to the modern age.

Lost Worlds with Bettany Hughes: The Nabataeans is a series comprised of three parts. The first episode marked its international premiere at the Red Sea International Film Festival.

“I’ve been slightly obsessed with the Nabateans for 30 years,” English historian and broadcaster Bettany Hughes says. “I knew Petra, but I also knew that to build Petra, there had to be this extraordinary network of cities, communications and a series of trade depots. I've long wanted to come to discover that.”

When Saudi Arabia began opening up the AlUla region in recent years, Hughes says she saw an opportunity to delve more into the history of this enigmatic civilisation. She already had a special folder in her London home dedicated to the Nabataeans, but their story was still fragmented and there was much more to discover and piece together.

“I heard that AlUla was welcoming visitors so pretty quickly, I tried to make contact with people to see if I could come as a researcher and historian,” she says. Hughes, who is behind several historical TV shows and books, first travelled to AlUla in 2022. Within a year, filming began, wrapping up in February this year.

“We were going out deep into the deserts while making this documentary, guided by Bedouin tribes,” she says. “We would go to rocks covered in camel inscriptions, and there were still ancient Bedouin encampments there. For thousands of years, travellers have been going through these areas.”

The monumental rocks are carved with inscriptions and rock art that have never been filmed before and offer sharp insights into the ancient traditions of the region. The inscriptions are much like a family ledger, Hughes explains, as travellers would inscribe their names as they followed in their forefathers’ trails.

“Some of the art is still being deciphered,” Hughes says. “A lot of it seems to be about humanity's relationship with the natural world.” The inscriptions also offer clues about the trade routes in the region.

Incense trade was how the Nabataeans flourished between northern Arabia and the southern Levant between the fourth and second centuries BC. “They're primarily a trade culture,” Hughes says. “I remember talking to an archaeologist who said the Nabataeans did not care about war or conquest. They cared about money. They want to keep relations as sweet as possible with as many people as possible because they want to do well.”

It is this acumen towards trade and diplomacy that helped nurture a cosmopolitan culture within the Nabataeans. It also explains why their architecture borrows elements from the other civilisations they did business with.

Their structures, Hughes says, are “a real synchronisation of influence from north, south, east and west". She adds: "You have columns that look like they come from a Greek temple. You have Roman elements. You have images of what looks like Greek goddesses. You have Assyrian capitals. You have Nabataean style elements.”

What’s even more fascinating is how well structures, such as the Hegra in AlUla, have been preserved for millennia. “Anybody who goes to AlUla will find it hard to believe that these are tombs and decorations that are 2000 years old because a lot of them look like they were made yesterday," she says.

Their robust construction and engineering are what helped the sites survive so immaculately, Hughes says. Yet, that’s not to say they still look like as they did in their heyday. “What we've lost is the colouring,” she says. “You look at that sandstone and people imagine that was the original colour, but actually they were brightly painted. The tombs had kind of whites and blues and reds on them.”

The first episode of Lost Worlds is dedicated entirely to AlUla. It incorporates graphics to recreate these sites with their original vibrancy. “It's one of those moments on the film where everybody gasps when they see what they looked like,” she says.

The second part of the documentary ventures towards Europe, following in the trail of the ancient incense routes and showing how the Nabataeans left their mark abroad.

“We actually travel to the Bay of Naples, so very close to Pompeii, and go diving in the water there,” she says. “There's a whole temple and altar to the Nabataean God underwater. The Nabataeans were bringing so much incense, because the Romans became obsessed with incense, that there was a whole Nabataean quarter there.”

The final episode, meanwhile, is set in Jordan. “We go to Petra, obviously, but we also go up in a helicopter because archaeologists have spotted what they’re calling playing card-shaped forts, which were done by the Romans when they were attacking the Nabataeans.”

Interestingly, the forts contain Nabataean pottery, and it may suggest that the ancient Arab people managed to take over the Roman camp. “Typically, it’s described as a brutal campaign, where the Nabataeans are taken over by the Romans, but it’s not the case at all,” she says. “They definitely carried on as a culture. They carried on still being in charge of those routes.”

In fact, Hughes suggests that the Nabataeans’ cultural influence sustained well into the seventh century, and gradually then “melted into other cultures".

"The Nabataeans are still absolutely with us,” she says. “I don't think there was a big collapse. People like history to be neat like that, and kind of rises and falls. But I think the Nabateans just carry on, and their influence can still be felt today.”

She hopes to highlight this in Lost Worlds, while ensuring that the ancient civilisation finally gets its due. “They should be right at the centre of history,” Hughes says. “Hopefully, one of the things that the series is doing is helping to put them back in at the centre rather than at the edges. They crop up from other sources, from Greek and Roman sources, but they're not given the respect and credence that they that they should be given.”