Arts National – Petra and the Nabateans: Arabs before Islam

In this lecture we trace the history of the enigmatic Nabateans, desert dwellers of Arabian origin, who grew fabulously rich on trade in incense and aromatics from South Arabia and established their capital city at Petra, hidden away in the mountains south of the Dead Sea. There, from the multi-coloured sandstone of their remote desert stronghold, the Nabateans carved impressive tombs, cultic dining halls and a grand theatre. They worshipped their gods from remote and beautiful ‘high places’ in the mountains, built palaces, elegant villas and temples in the valleys and embellished their city with water courses and gardens.

Sue Rollin lives in London and holds degrees in Near Eastern archaeology, South Asian studies and conference interpreting. She has tutored and lectured at London and Cambridge Universities, been a staff interpreter at the European Commission, and currently works as a freelance interpreter, lecturer and tour guide. Sue has travelled widely for work and pleasure and has led cultural tours in Spain, Sicily, Morocco, the Middle East, Central Asia and India. She has co-authored travel guides on Jordan and on Istanbul. In the UK, Sue lectures for the Arts Society and the V&A and she has done four previous ArtsNational lecture tours.