Notae Numismaticae - Zapiski Numizmatyczne (3/4.1999)

TOM III/IV

NOTAE NUMISMATICAE

KRAKÓW 1999

ZAPISKI NUMIZMATYCZNE

JERZY CIECIELĄG

Institute of History, Pedagogical University
Cracow

COINS OF ARETAS IV, KING OF NABATAEANS
(9 BC-AD 40)

The history of the Nabataean tribes, despite the significant role they
played in the history of the ancient Near East in the Greco-Roman pe-
riod, is relatively little known. This results primarily from the lack of any
more extensive source information. The situation is slightly better with
archaeological finds, which are scattered around the entire Mediterra-
nean basin. Unfortunately, the majority of these come from the Tst cen-
tury AD, when the Nabataean state, with its capital in Petra, reached its
high water mark. Despite these limitations, we know from the accounts
of Strabo, Diodorus Siculus, and Flavius Josephus that at some time near
the beginning of the Hellenistic period the Nabataeans began to conso-
lidate under the name "Nabat"1, eventually forming a united state. Al-

1 Strabo, Geographia 16.4.2.

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