(Sergio)
on the top of a steep hill
lie the ruins of an ancient mysterious and lost civilization.
We are in the ancient Nabataean city of Avdat.
(Sergio)
untouched since the 7th century.
It is the home to the burial caves.
Byzantine church with Greek inscription slabs
and an incredible cross-shaped baptismal place.
This is so, so cool because we knew nothing
about Nabataean culture and it is absolutely fascinating.
(Sergio)
of nomads who knew the secret trade routes
through which only they were able to trade precious spices, get rich,
and build themselves an entire empire.
Their kingdom's capital: Petra.
But here's the problem.
The Nabataeans appeared only for a few centuries
in the human history.
In the 4th century, they magically vanished,
leaving only ruins behind them.
This left historians with great questions:
Who were they and could they be related
to the wise men that came to visit Jesus after his birth?
And more importantly, what had caused their disappearance?
So come and join us on this little walkthrough of Avdat,
an ancient Nabataean city, starting from the parking lot
down there all the way up here. Hope you enjoy it.
- (Rhoda) Wow, babe, look. - (Sergio) Wow, babe.
- See the green down there? - Yeah.
- It's so great. - In the desert,
like a really green patch.
This is very steep, I don't know about you, this is pretty steep.
Not looking there. (laughs)
- (Rhoda) That's chiseled. - (Sergio) Yeah. You want to walk there?
- take a look? - (Rhoda) Sure.
(car door opens)
This is so cool.
There's lots to do this walk in the middle of nowhere.
Together with you. This is awesome.
♪ (tense music) ♪
Do you see how symmetrical their rocks are?
Look how good they are.
Wow.
Oh! This is what we saw in the video.
Wow.
Burial Mansions.
[inaudible]
Babe, look there's-- you see those grooves?
So that means there's like a slab that goes in between.
(Sergio) It's kind of the same rock as they used--
It's the same as like limestone rock, it's very soft, it's almost like the chalk
- that you write with. - And this would have been
[inaudible] one too.
One, there's space for four I think.
Alright, let's keep driving up the hill and check out their city.
Yes.
♪ (intense music) ♪
(car horn)
Wow.
Welcome to Avdat.
♪ (upbeat music) ♪
(Rhoda) Okay. Let's see.
(Rhoda) So you want to go to the pillars?
- (Sergio) Let's do it. - Think we can just continue
walking on this path.
(Rhoda) Look at that [inaudible]
This is the Nabataean settlement.
Do you see all these ruins over there?
The little ones like you see very poor looking and over here.
(Sergio) Right so, that's the Roman fortress right there, right?
That's the newer part that's been rebuilt once the Romans kind of occupied
this territory
and these would have been the Nabataean side,
althought they're still ruined
and never been reconstructed since they lived here.
But as far as I understood, some of these structures here
where the Romans were, they've kind of improved
upon the Nabataean citadels was here.
So which we'll still be able to see some of the original stones
from the Nabtaens time, all the way up to the Byzantine times
when they built churches here.
- (Sergio) See. Two different layers. - (Rhoda) Yes. That's true.
So they have a Roman army camp down at the end of it.
- Mm hmm. - End of it. Down there.
- Doesn't it remind you of Masada... - (Sergio) Yes. Yes. Yes.
... where Masada came through they mountain and they have a ramp
and they have a Roman camp.
(Sergio) Wow, look this is like a place where they would sell the spices.
It's like a marketplace.
♪ ( music) ♪
(Rhoda) Oh, I think it's a town fortress.
Wow.
♪ (dramatic music) ♪
This is massive.
Do you see that pipe, the clay pipe?
The Roman piping system?
(Sergio) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
(Rhoda) And look down there. It goes into a water reservoir
or something, right?
So cool. What do you think of all this place?
Very cool.
We've never been to a Nabataeans-like place.
This one is missing a roof.
Look at this. You got a cross here, a vivid cross.
(Rhoda) Beautiful.
So cool, so this was a church in the 4th century.
Can you just imagine people here?
Almost 1,600 years ago.
Hey, look at that.
Wow. Look how cool this is.
You got a menorah 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Six candles and the 7th one.
There's the biblical menorah and a cross right next to it.
Okay, guys, if you speak Greek, if you can read Greek,
take a snapshot, what does this say?
I have no idea but this is fascinating.
4th century Byzantine Church, what does this say?
It's incredible.
♪ (music) ♪
Oh, look, there's more.
♪ (intense music) ♪
It says that this is a Nabataean temple,
number 21.
You got to see this, look.
You can see vaguely the traders' route to Gaza,
like you see the modern street
and it's right behind it.
So, you can see it here on the map too,
and there they have it here to Petra.
(Sergio) I see it, so these are the ancient trade routes
that the Nabataeans
has established to build their empire.
(Rhoda) Yeah, and they traded like, incense, spices, and gold.
Actually, if you look right along the trade route over there,
there are ruins.
Do you see them down there where the green is?
- (Sergio) Yes. - (Rhoda) Do you see them?
(Sergio)
a few centuries before Christ,
and then a few centuries later
disappeared from the face of the earth.
They left almost no written records behind them
making it really hard on the historians to figure out their origins, practices,
history, and the reason for their disappearance.
But their disappearance wouldn't be as noticed have they not built an empire.
♪ (music) ♪
They developed trade routes in the Northern Arabia,
connected places as far as India, to Israel and Egypt.
They held the knowledge of secret water reservoirs
that no one else have,
so they could transport the spices and silk through a deadly desert.
In the span of their existence, they had aggregated a great fortune.
They have built a magnificent hidden city of Petra carved out of the bedrock
inside a hidden canyon.
But who are they and where did they come from?
Desivius Flavius, a first-century Jewish historian
and also 4th-century Christian historian Eusebius or Jerome suggested
that the Nabataeans originated with the Nebayot,
the first born son of Ishmael, a grandson of Abraham.
Unfortunately, modern historians reject this claim.
But whoever they are, they do seem to play an interesting role in the land of Israel.
They appear in the land right after the Jews are taken into Babylonian exile,
and then they disappeared from the land around the 4th century
and that many of them convert to Christianity.
But why? What had caused this?
There is one very interesting theory.
According to this theory,
this group of people is much more famous than we thought.
This theory states that the famous wise men
who visited Jesus after his birth were the Nabataeans
And this theory actually makes a lot sense.
After all, the wise men came from the east
which is the direction of the Nabataean Kingdom,
and they brought gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.
These are the very items that the Nabataeans traded
and possessed in excess.
And this theory fits right in the prophecy about Jesus
mentioned in Isaiah 60.
"A multitude of camels shall cover you, they shall bring gold and frankincense,
and proclaim the praise of the Lord," and Verse 7 mentions Nebaioth.
So, could it be that the wise were the Nabataeans
and could this also explain their disappearance?
Could they have been anticipating the coming of the Messiah
and when he came, their entire culture would have then had fulfilled
its very purpose.
(Sergio) Wow.
This is a crossed-shaped baptismal.
(Sergio) Wow. It's renovated, restored obviously.
- (Rhoda) Yeah. - (Sergio) But this is so cool.
This is just like the one they have in Shivta.
So there was one here too but theirs preserved better,
this one is not as well preserved so they had to restore it.
But it's the same thing, just as they had it there.
- Yes. - (Sergio) Incredible.
Think about the view they had.
♪ (music) ♪
(Rhoda) Look, this is a huge wine press.
There is-- I don't know if this is where they pressed it and it would go down
- from here, ends up right there. - (Sergio) Wow.
- But this is huge. - (Sergio) Oh, my goodness.
Isn't it awesome?
(Sergio) So, they would press it right there or here
so, there would be something here and it would go down
into this channel right there.
Come out in there and be stored in here?
But I'm not sure if this is where they pressed it, if they used feet or not.
I mean it looks [tight] so, it doesn't look like a place to hold liquid.
(Sergio) Wait a second.
Wouldn't this be the bath where you step on them
with your feet?
No. This is probably storage or something
because the floor has to have that-- what do you call... [shapua]
- You guys want the word she said? - [Shapua.]
By the way, [shapua] is an angle or what it means decline.
So, they'll be pressing it here then the liquid will have to go down
and since there's no angled floor it cannot be a pressing floor.
So, very good thinking.
♪ (music) ♪
Look how cool.
It's this pottery that are like decorated.
They have these grooves or those linings that go around.
We should keep them in their place though.
Where did they put them?
So much of it has been destroyed.
Wow, just kind of crumbled down.
What's cool about this entire city, that no matter what they're doing,
whether in church, or they're pressing wine here,
they have an incredible view, think about it.
I mean, you're doing something,
whatever you're doing, whatever your occupation is,
the view is just stunning.
You're on top of the hill and it's all valley around you,
it's so beautiful.
Well, this was awesome.
It's beautiful, and I don't think we even scratched the surface
about the Nabataeans or the settlers, there's so many unknowns.
Gorgeous views and a lot to look at here, I didn't expect it to be so nice.
- It's beautiful, isn't it? - Yes. I'm glad we stopped.
- Me too. Ready to go? - Yes. Let's go.
Look.
Somebody asked if this is from-- about Kibbutz of Ben-Gurion
but it shows that he was here in 1960, 15th of April,
- so not very far from today. - (Sergio) And yes, wow,
and 15th of April! Today is the 15th of April!
- Yo. This is so cool. - (Rhoda) It's the 14th of February.
(Sergio) Oh! (laughing) It's terrible.
Wow, that was way off.
(camel bleat)