NABATEA, Aretas IV & Shaqilath, circa 9 BC-40 AD, bronze

DescriptionA notable feature of some Nabataean coins is the regular appearance of the portrait of the queen as well as of the king.Aretas IV fought with Herod Antipas of Judaea several times, to no lasting result. Both sides were allied with Rome, which would sometimes back one side, sometimes the other.Nabatea was a locally powerful Arab kingdom in what is now Jordan. Petra was their capital. In their prime the Romans had to deal with them. The deal brought them more and more into the Roman system. They were annexed in the reign of Trajan.In ancient times Arabia was generally considered to be what is now Jordan and southern Israel. To the Mediterraneans Arabia proper was considered a wilderness with some exotic cities in Yemen. The population of Arabs was increasing, and they became dominant in Jordan during Roman times. The Romans occupied northern “Arabia” for a few centuries, but never made a move on the peninsula.“Ancient Coins” includes Greek and Roman coins and those of neighbors and successors, geographically from Morocco and Spain all the way to Afghanistan. Date ranges for these begin with the world’s earliest coins of the 8th century BC to, in an extreme case, the end of Byzantine Empire, 1453 AD.