Literature. — Besides the authors quoted, see W. M. Ramsay, in Expositor, 5th ser. ii. [1895] 209, 261, also x. [1899] ; E. Renan, St. Paul, Eng. tr. 1890, p. 193 f. ; A. C. McGiffert, History of the Apostolic Age, Edinburgh, 1897, p. 257 ff. ; EBr^, art. 'Areopagus'; R. J. Knowling', in EGT ii. [London, 1900] 368 f. F. W. WOESLEY.
ARETAS ('A/J^ras, Arab. Haritha).—1hQ Gr. form of a name borne by several rulers of the Na- bataean Arabs, whose capital was Petra in Arabia.
1. The first known to history, ' Aretas, prince of the Arabians,' is said to have had the fugitive high- priest Jason shut up at his court (2 Mac 5^ ; the Gr. text is doubtful). His designation as ' prince ' (ripavvos) indicates that the hereditary chieftain of the tribe had not yet assumed the dignity of king- ship. The royal dynasty was founded by Erotimus about 110-100 B.C., when the Greek kings of Syria and Egypt had lost so much of their power, ' ut adsiduis proeliis consumpti in contemptum finiti- niorum venei-int praedaeque Arabuni genti, im- belli an tea, fuerint' (Trog. Pomp. ap. Justin., xxxix. 5. 5-6).
2. The second Aretas, called o'Apd^uv ^acnXeiJs, is mentioned by Josephus (Ant. XIII. xiii. 3) in con- nexion with the siege of Gaza by Alexander Jan- nseus in 96 B.C.
3. Aretas III., who reigned from about 85 to 60 B.C., is known as 'Aretas the Philhellene,' this being the superscription of the earliest Nabati^an coins that are known. Under him the mountain fortress of Petra began to assume the aspect of a Hellenistic city, and the Nabatsean sway was extended as far as Damascus. He incurred the displeasure of the Romans by interfering in the quarrel of Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, but the war which Scaurus waged against him left his power unbroken (Ant. XIV. v. i. ; BJ I. viii. 1). He could not, however, prevent Lollius and Metellus from taking possession of Damascus (Ant. XIV. ii. 3 ; BJ I. vi. 1), which there- after was permanently under the suzerainty of Rome.
4. Aretas IV. , Philopatris.the last and best-known, had a long and successful reign (c. 9 n.c.-A.D. 40). He was originally called ^Eneas, but on coming to the throne lie assumed the favourite name of the Nabatican kings. He soon found it necessary to ingratiate himself with Rome.
Augustus ' was angry that Aretas had not sent to him first before he took the kingdom ; yet did .^neas send an epistle
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and presents to Caesar, and a crown of gold of the weight of many talents.' . . . The Emperor 'admitted Aretas's ambassa- dors, and after he had just reproved him for nis rashness in not waiting till he had received the kingdom from him, he accepted his presents, and confirmed him in the government ' (Jos. Ant. XVI. ix. 4, X. 9).
This Aretas' daughter became the wife of Hei'od Antipas, who divorced her in order to marry Herodias (Mk 6^''). Border disputes gave the in- jured father an opportunity of revenge. Again acting, at this new junctiare, without consulting Rome, he attacked and defeated Antipas (A.D. 28) ; and again fortune smiled on his daring disregard of consequences. Tlie belated expedition Avhich Vitellius, governor of Syria, at Tiberius' command, led against Petra, had only got as far as Jerusalem, when the tidings of the Emperor's death (A.D. 37) caused it to be abandoned.
There is circumstantial evidence, though perhaps too slender to be quite convincing, that Tiberius' successor Caligula favoured the cause of Aretas. St. Paul was converted probably about A.D. 36 (so Turner), and, some time after, the Jews of Da- mascus conspired to kill him (Ac 9-^'-)- In recall- ing this fact he mentions a detail (2 Co 11*^) which the writer of Acts omits, namely, that it was the governor (^dvdpxrp) under Aretas the king who — doubtless at the instigation of tlie Jews — guarded the city to take him. The question is thus raised when and how Aretasbecame overlord of Damascus. It is inconceivable either that he captured the city in face of the Roman legions in Syria, or that Tiberius, who in the end of his reign was strongly hostile, ceded it to him. But it is probable that Caligula favoured the enemy of Herod Antipas. One of his first imperial acts was to give the tetrarchy of Philip and Lysanias to Agrippa (Ant. XVIII. vi. 10), and he may at the same time have given Damascus to Aretas as a peace-offering. It was better policy to befriend than to crush the brave Nabatioans. Antipas was ultimately de- posed and banisiied in 39.
It was only for a short time, however, that Rome rela xed her direct hold upon the old Syrian capital. There are Damascene coins with the figure of Tiberius down to A.D. 34, and the fact that none has been found with the image of Caius or Claud- ius is significant of a change of regime ; but the image of Nero appears from 62 onwards. To the view of Marquardt [Rom. Staatsverwaltung, 1885, i. 405) and Mommsen (Provinces'^, 1909, ii. 149), based on 2 Co IP-, that Damascus was continuously in subjection to the Nabattean kings from the be- ginning of the Roman period down to A.D. 106, there are the strongest objections(see Schiirer, HJP I. ii. 354). Cf. art. ARABIA.