Năbăthæa

, a country of Arabia, of which the capital was called Petra. The word is often applied to any of the eastern countries of the world by the poets, and seems to be derived from Nabath the son of Ishmael. Ovid , Metamorphoses , bk. 1 , li. 61 ; bk. 5 , li. 163 .— Strabo , bk. 16 .— Lucan , bk. 4 , li. 63 .— Juvenal , satire 11, li. 126 .— Seneca , Hercules Œtae us , li. 160 , .