Graven Images No Problem for Nabateans

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A recently restored painting from the Nabatean city of Petra in southern Jordan shows that Nabateans were much more comfortable with graven images than their Jewish neighbors in Judea.

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Footnotes

See Joey Corbett, “Solving the Enigma of Petra and the Nabateans,” BAS Online E-Feature (www.bib-arch.org/e-features), May/June 2009.

Such restrictions, however, did not keep Judean artists and craftsmen from adopting other non-figurative aspects of Hellenistic art. See Martin Goodman, “Under the Influence,” BAR 26:01.