Aretas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Aretas (Arabic: Haritha), the Greek form of a name borne by kings of the Nabataeans resident at Petra in Arabia.
- Aretas I was a king in the time of Antiochus IV Epiphanes (2 Macc. 5:8).
- Aretas II ruled Nabatea from 120 or 110 to 96 BCE.
- Aretas III ruled Nabatea from 87 to 62 BCE. He supported Hyrcanus II against Aristobulus II, but was obliged to retreat by Pompey (64 BC), and in 62 BC paid a bribe of 300 talents to Marcus Aemilius Scaurus.
- Aretas IV Philopatris was the father-in-law of Herod Antipas (Josephus, Ant. xviii.5.I,3). In 2 Cor. 11:32 he is described as ruler of Damascus at the time of Paul's conversion. Herod Antipas had married a daughter of Aretas, but afterwards discarded her in favour of Herodias. This led to a war with Aretas in which Antipas was defeated.
- An Aretas is mentioned in some translations of 1 Macc. 15:22, but the true reading is probably Ariarathes (king of Cappadocia).
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.