Bosra in the context of "Daraa Governorate"

Arabia Petraea (lit. 'Rocky Arabia') was a Roman province from the 2nd century to the 7th century. It was established after the Roman Empire conquered the Nabataean Kingdom in 106 and existed until the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the 630s. Spanning much of the Sinai Peninsula and part of the Levant, it was bordered by Syria to the north, by Judaea (later Syria Palaestina) to the west, and by Egypt to the southwest. To the east and southeast of Arabia Petraea was non-Roman territory that the Romans knew as Arabia Deserta. These two regions, together with a third region in South Arabia that was called Arabia Felix, accounted for the Arabian Peninsula in Roman geography.

Annexed by Trajan (r. 98–117), Arabia Petraea was a key province along the Limes Arabicus, which delineated the Roman Empire's borders throughout the Arabian Desert. It was also the only province in the Near East that the Romans did not gain and subsequently lose during Trajan's reign, unlike Armenia, Assyria, and Mesopotamia. The province's capital city was initially Petra, as it had been under the Nabataeans, but Bosra later served in this capacity. Most of the province's land was a vast desert that was sparsely populated by nomadic Arab tribes, though there were several urban settlements closer to the Jordan River.

Zayd ibn Ḥāritha al-Kalbī (Arabic: زيد بن حارثة الكلبي) (c. 581–629 CE), was an early Muslim, Sahabi and the former adopted son of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad. He is commonly regarded as the fourth person to have accepted Islam, after Muhammad's wife Khadija, Muhammad's cousin Ali, and Muhammad's close companion Abu Bakr. Zayd was a slave that Hakim ibn Hizam, Khadija's nephew, bought for her at a market in Ukaz. Zayd then became her and Muhammad’s adopted son and took his lineage. His lineage was later restored just before he had his second wife Zaynab bint Jahsh divorced and married to Muhammad. He later went on to marry into Muhammad's family.

Zayd was a commander in the early Muslim army and led several early military expeditions during the lifetime of Muhammad. Zayd led his final expedition in September 629 CE, when he set out to raid the Byzantine city of Bosra. However the Muslim army was intercepted by Byzantine forces and Zayd was subsequently killed at the Battle of Mu'tah.

A camel train, caravan, or camel string is a series of camels carrying passengers and goods on a regular or semi-regular service between points. Despite rarely travelling faster than human walking speed, for centuries camels' ability to withstand harsh conditions made them ideal for communication and trade in the desert areas of North Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. Camel trains were also used sparingly elsewhere around the globe. Since the early 20th century they have been largely replaced by motorized vehicles or air traffic.

The Nabataean script is an abjad (consonantal alphabet) that was used to write Nabataean Aramaic and Nabataean Arabic from the second century BC onwards. Important inscriptions are found in Petra (in Jordan), the Sinai Peninsula (now part of Egypt), Bosra and Namara (in Syria), and other archaeological sites including Abdah (in Israel) and Mada'in Saleh (Hegra) (in Saudi Arabia).

Nabataean is only known through inscriptions and, more recently, a small number of papyri. It was first deciphered in 1840 by Eduard Friedrich Ferdinand Beer. 6,000 – 7,000 Nabataean inscriptions have been published, of which more than 95% are mostly short inscriptions or graffiti, and the vast majority are undated, post-Nabataean or from outside the core Nabataean territory. A majority of inscriptions considered Nabataean were found in Sinai, and another 4,000 – 7,000 such Sinaitic inscriptions remain unpublished. Prior to the publication of Nabataean papyri, the only substantial corpus of detailed Nabataean text were the 38 funerary inscriptions from Mada'in Salih (Hegra), discovered and published by Charles Montagu Doughty, Charles Huber, Philippe Berger and Julius Euting in 1884-85.