Nabatieh, or Nabatîyé, is the city of the Nabatieh Governorate, in southern Lebanon. The most accepted theory is related to the Nabateans, an …Nabatieh, or Nabatîyé, is the city of the Nabatieh Governorate, in southern Lebanon. The most accepted theory is related to the Nabateans, an ancient Arab civilization that inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Levant. The name of the city colloquially is, النبطية meaning in a broader linguistic sense “the Nabatean” in a feminine form, a form which would have been used to name cities.