A rich merchant Semitic people who established a kingdom south and east of Edom - ancient Midian, on a trade route from Red Sea to Mediterranean, by the 6th century BC. The Nabataeans infiltrated Edom and forced the Edomites into southern Palestine. They made Petra (in Jordan) their capital in c 312 BC, but they also controlled Bosra and Damascus at height of power. The city prospered as the center of the spice trade. Khirbet Tannur temple, Wadi Rum temple, watch towers, and an elaborate hydraulic network are attributed to them. During 64-63 BCE, the kingdom of Nabataea was conquered by the Romans under Pompey, who restored the Hellenistic cities destroyed by the Jews and set up the Decapolis. The country remained independent but paid imperial taxes. The kingdom annexed by Romans in 106 AD as "Provincia Arabia Petraea" (Palaestina Tertia).