In his letter to the churches of Galatia, Paul makes a brief but tantalizing statement:
“I did not immediately consult with flesh and blood, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me, but I went away into Arabia, and returned again to Damascus.” — Galatians 1:16–17
The remark is almost frustrating in its brevity. Paul tells us that after his encounter with Jesus, he went “into Arabia.” He does not specify where. He offers no itinerary. He gives no narrative detail. Yet the chronological framework of Galatians suggests that this Arabian period may have occupied a significant span of time before his eventual visit to Jerusalem three years later (Gal 1:18).
What did “Arabia” mean in the mid-first century? And where might Paul have gone?
This question forms the beginning of a new research project that I am undertaking while documenting archaeological sites in northwest Arabia—particularly Dadan (al-ʿUlā) and Hegra (Madāʾin Ṣāliḥ)—within the cultural corridor shaped first by the Lihyanites and later by the Nabataeans.
Arabia in the First Century
When Paul wrote “Arabia,” he was not referring to the modern nation-state. In the first century, “Arabia” most commonly designated the territory of the Nabataean Kingdom.
Under King Aretas IV (9 BCE–40 CE), Nabataean control extended from southern Syria through Transjordan and deep into northwest Arabia. Paul’s own testimony in 2 Corinthians 11:32 refers to an ethnarch under Aretas in Damascus, indicating Nabataean political influence in that region during Paul’s lifetime.
This geopolitical reality immediately expands the range of possibilities. Arabia was not merely desert hinterland. It was an organized kingdom integrated by trade routes, caravan networks, cultic centers, and administrative structures.
The Nabataean road system connected Damascus to Petra—and further south to Hegra.
The Archaeological Landscape: Dadan and Hegra
Dadan (biblical Dedan) flourished centuries before Paul under the Lihyanite kingdom. Hegra, later integrated into the Nabataean realm, became a monumental center marked by elaborate rock-cut tombs and inscriptions.
These were not isolated desert outposts. They were nodes within a vibrant religious ecosystem characterized by:
- Aniconic cultic practices
- High-god devotion alongside local deities
- Trade-driven cosmopolitan exchange
- Monumental architecture reflecting wealth and organization
- Inscriptions revealing social, economic, and religious life
To stand in these spaces is to recognize that Arabia in Paul’s day was neither empty nor culturally peripheral. It was structured, devout, networked, and intellectually alive.
Could Paul Have Traveled as Far as Hegra?
Most scholars assume Paul’s Arabian sojourn took place somewhere in the Nabataean sphere around Petra, perhaps in Transjordan or near Damascus. That is certainly plausible.
Yet geography does not prohibit a more extended journey. Caravan routes connected Damascus southward along established trade corridors. Travel from Damascus to Petra—and onward to Hegra—was not hypothetical; it was routine for traders.
We must be cautious here. There is no inscription reading “Paul was here.” There is no textual evidence placing him at Hegra specifically although there is a linguistic connection between Hagar and Hegra—possibly the reason why Paul writes Gal 4:24-25. Even so, any claim beyond possibility would exceed the evidence.
But possibility matters in historical inquiry.
If Paul spent a significant period—perhaps two to three years—within Nabataean territory, we should at least consider the full territorial scope of that kingdom rather than collapsing “Arabia” into a narrow northern strip.
The Research Question
This project is not designed to prove that Paul reached Hegra.
Rather, it asks a different set of questions:
- What did the religious landscape of northwest Arabia look like in the first century?
- How did high-god devotion function within Dadanite, Lihyanite, and Nabataean contexts?
- What were the intellectual and cultic structures into which a proclamation of Jesus would have entered?
- How might the Arabian sojourn have shaped Paul’s theological formation before his Jerusalem visit?
If Paul engaged Nabataean territory during this formative period, then Arabia was not merely a retreat. It may have been a crucible.
Arabia as Formation
Galatians emphasizes that Paul’s understanding of Jesus did not derive from the Jerusalem apostles. Arabia stands between Damascus and Jerusalem in his autobiographical narrative.
Whether Arabia functioned as an Elijah-like withdrawal, proclamation, conflict, contemplation, or all of the above remains debated. Yet the archaeological record reminds us that Arabia was not theological abstraction—it was embodied geography.
It had temples.
It had inscriptions.
It had priests.
It had trade networks.
It had high places.
It had imperial entanglements.
And it had people.
The material culture of Dadan and Hegra invites us to revisit Paul’s brief autobiographical note with fresh geographical imagination.
An Invitation to Dialogue
As this research develops, I will be sharing photographs, site analyses, and reflections from Dadan and Hegra. My goal is not speculative sensationalism but disciplined inquiry—placing text and terrain in conversation.
“Arabia” deserves to be studied not as empty desert but as a historically complex religious ecosystem.
If Paul went into Arabia, then Arabia mattered.
And archaeology may help us ask better questions about why.