Sources for Aretas

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Jax
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Sources for Aretas

Post by Jax »

Merry Christmas all,

I am at present trying to research both King Aretas III and also IV for a book that I am writing. I am therefore trying to find as much information as possible about the subject. What sources do we have from the ancient world that discuss these rulers? So far I am aware of the material in Josephus and wonder if there are any other sources available on anyone named Aretas (king or otherwise) in the ancient world.

Thanks for any help that you can give and I hope that you have a safe and happy New Year. :)

Lane Clapshaw
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Ben C. Smith
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Re: Sources for Aretas

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Jax wrote: Sun Dec 24, 2017 10:01 am Merry Christmas all,

I am at present trying to research both King Aretas III and also IV for a book that I am writing. I am therefore trying to find as much information as possible about the subject. What sources do we have from the ancient world that discuss these rulers? So far I am aware of the material in Josephus and wonder if there are any other sources available on anyone named Aretas (king or otherwise) in the ancient world.

Thanks for any help that you can give and I hope that you have a safe and happy New Year. :)
I have done precious little investigation into the whole Aretas III/IV thing, but here is a handful of sources I have collected over time:

2 Maccabees 5.8: 8 Finally he met a miserable end. Accused before Aretas the ruler of the Arabs, fleeing from city to city, pursued by all men, hated as a rebel against the laws, and abhorred as the executioner of his country and his fellow citizens, he was cast ashore in Egypt. [This has to be Aretas III.]

Pliny, Natural History 5.16: [Link: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... apter%3D16 (Damascus as part of the Decapolis).]

Ptolemy, Geography 5.15.22: [Link: https://archive.org/stream/claudiiptole ... 2/mode/2up (Damascus as part of the Decapolis).]

Strabo, Geography 16.4.21: 21 The first people above Syria who dwell in Arabia Felix are the Nabataeans and the Sabaeans. They overran Syria before they became subject to the Romans; but at present both they and the Syrians are subject to the Romans [νῦν δὲ κἀκεῖνοι Ῥωμαίοις εἰσὶν ὑπήκοοι καὶ Σύροι]. The metropolis of the Nabataeans is Petra, as it is called; for it lies on a site which is otherwise smooth and level, but it is fortified all round by a rock, the outside parts of the site being precipitous and sheer, and the inside parts having springs in abundance, both for domestic purposes and for watering gardens. Outside the circuit of the rock most of the territory is desert, in particular towards Judaea. Here, too, is the shortest road to Hiericus, a journey of three or four days, as also to the grove of palm trees, a journey of five days. Petra is also ruled by some king from the royal family; and the king has as Administrator one of his companions, who is called "brother." It is exceedingly well-governed; at any rate, Athenodorus, a philosopher and companion of mine, who had been in the city of the Petraeans, used to describe their government with admiration, for he said that he found both many Romans and many other foreigners sojourning there, and that he saw that the foreigners often engaged in lawsuits, both with one another and with the natives, but that none of the natives prosecuted one another, and that they in every way kept peace with one another. [Link: http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/R ... /16D*.html.]

Josephus, Antiquities 14.7.2 §117: 117 Ἐν γοῦν Αἰγύπτῳ κατοικία τῶν Ἰουδαίων ἐστὶν ἀποδεδειγμένη χωρὶς καὶ τῆς Ἀλεξανδρέων πόλεως ἀφώρισται μέγα μέρος τῷ ἔθνει τούτῳ. καθίσταται δὲ καὶ ἐθνάρχης αὐτῶν, ὃς διοικεῖ τε τὸ ἔθνος καὶ διαιτᾷ κρίσεις καὶ συμβολαίων ἐπιμελεῖται καὶ προσταγμάτων, ὡς ἂν πολιτείας ἄρχων αὐτοτελοῦς. / 117 Accordingly, the Jews have places assigned them in Egypt, wherein they inhabit, besides what is peculiarly allotted to this nation at Alexandria, which is a large part of that city. There is also an ethnarch allowed them, who governs the nation, and distributes justice to them, and takes care of their contracts, and of the laws to them belonging, as if he were the ruler of a free republic. [Link: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/tex ... ection%3D2.]

Craig S. Keener, Commentary on 1-2 Corinthians, pages 235-236:

It is probably not from forgetfulness (cf. 1 Cor 1:16) that Paul positions his specific anecdote of danger (his escape through a window in Damascus’ wall, 11:31–33) after the summary in 11:23–29 and its conclusion in 11:30. Paul is hardly finished with his fool’s boast (12:1–10), but is increasing the emotional intensity with a specific example of danger (an intriguing one, which Paul perhaps often retold; cf. Acts 9:24–25), a descent perhaps paired with the story of his ascent in 12:2–4.

As many scholars note, the people of Roman Corinth would know that Rome awarded a special wreath (the corona muralis) to the brave first soldier to scale an enemy wall; here Paul follows the reverse course. Paul probably intends his escape from a window more as a dramatic example of danger than as humiliation, however, given his positive biblical precedent (Josh 2:15; 1 Sam 19:12).

Although few of Corinth’s citizens in the 50s would have known or cared about Aretas, they may well have heard a fuller version of this story from Paul before. Aretas IV was king of the Nabatean Arabs from 9 b.c.e. to 39 c.e., and inaugurated a period of prosperity and massive building. Although once nomadic, the Nabateans by this period had cities and a Hellenized ruling class. Many think that a Nabatean ethnarch in Damascus indicates that Aretas controlled Damascus as he did the surrounding territory, a possibility especially between 37 and 39 c.e. (because Gaius favored local client rulers). Some push his control as early as 34 (Roman coins are so far conspicuously absent from Damascus for 34–62), in view of Pauline chronology. But it is no less possible, in our current state of knowledge, that the ethnarch ruled only the Nabatean population in Damascus, analogous to the Jewish ethnarch in Alexandria (Josephus Ant. 14.117), and exercised considerable freedom under a weak local governor. Nabateans had trading colonies elsewhere in the region, and a quarter in Damascus. Interestingly, the traditional site forAnanias’ house (cf.Acts 9:10) abuts the Hellenistic-Roman wall in the Nabatean quarter.

Luke’s most significant divergence from Paul’s account here is that he envisions Paul’s enemies as local Jews; this portrayal fits Luke’s emphasis, but may also provide an explanation for Nabatean hostility. Whatever Paul was doing in Nabatea for many months (“Arabia,” Gal 1:17), he probably at least started in connection with Jews there. A Nabatean ethnarch ruling only Nabateans might have little authority over Paul unless local Jewish leaders consented; and we know that Paul sometimes faced local Jewish hostility (11:24). Both Jews and Nabateans had a strong presence in the city and Nabateans controlled the surrounding countryside. If Jews and Nabateans cooperated against Paul in Damascus, it was to the local governor’s advantage to remain uninformed or look the other way, and Paul’s situation there was dire indeed.

T. K. Cheyne & J. Sutherland Black, Encyclopedia Biblica 1, entry for Aretas: Damascene coins of Tiberius do not occur later than 33-34 A.D. .... [W]e have imperial coins of Damascus with figures of Augustus, Tiberius, and Nero.

I have listed only one from Josephus above, because it does not relate directly to Aretas III or IV, but there is (as you know) plenty more in Josephus which is more direct, especially about Aretas III. But you mentioned you already have Josephus covered, so no need to list the passages here. None of this is exhaustive at all; however, I think there is something of a vacuum for Aretas IV in many ways.

As you go along, would you mind posting other sources that you find? My lists can always use expanding.

Ben.
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Jax
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Re: Sources for Aretas

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Hi Ben,

Thanks for those sources. So far I have only been able to find this Diodorus Siculus, Book 40 http://attalus.org/translate/diodorus40.html#4

Lane
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Re: Sources for Aretas

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Thanks! Nice handy Greek text and everything.
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Re: Sources for Aretas

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“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
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Jax
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Re: Sources for Aretas

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Thank you SA, very helpful.

Lane
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