Aretas I.

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Aretas I ( Arabic : حارثة , Harthah or Harithath ) is the first ruler figure handed down by name from the early days of the Nabatean Empire .

Life

Apart from his name, which appears in the Bible and in inscriptions, little is known about Aretas, neither about himself nor about his exact reign. In particular, it is unclear whether he should be considered the founder of the Nabatean Empire, as was assumed for a long time. It is also not certain who was his successor. Possibly it was Rabbel I.

Aretas probably ruled in the 1st half of the 2nd century BC. During this time the Nabataeans succeeded in asserting themselves both against Ptolemaic Egypt in the west and against the Seleucids in the east. At the same time, they were open to the cultural influences from both Hellenistic realms, as the buildings in the Nabatean capital Petra prove.

Biblical tradition

In a deutero-canonical source of the Bible, a Nabatean king Aretas is mentioned: According to the 2nd Book of the Maccabees , which calls him "Prince of the Arabs ", he is said to be the former, Hellenistic -minded Jewish high priest Jason after his failed coup and his escape from Jerusalem for a short time have held captive. This fits in with information from the 1st Book of the Maccabees and the Antiquities of Flavius ​​Josephus : According to this, the Nabataeans maintained friendly relations with Jason's opponents Judas Maccabeus and his brother Jonathan from the Hasmonean family of priests and rulers during Aretas' reign .

Tradition of the name in inscriptions

In addition to the Bible, the name Aretas appeared on an inscription found in the ancient Nabatean city of Elusa in the Negev . Since this inscription has long been lost, it can no longer be used for closer examination. The inscription from Elusa has long been associated with the Bible text without hesitation and therefore dates to 168 BC. Dated. According to the existing historical evidence, this king Aretas was considered the first king of the Nabataeans and was given the ordinal number I. Frank M. Cross , who carried out the underlying palaeographic assessment of the inscription, did not make such a precise statement in his publication, but only stated that the writing followed the italics of the 3rd century BC. More like the inscriptions of the last century BC.

Robert Wenning therefore connects this naming of a King Aretas with an unpublished inscription from the Damascus Museum instead of the Bible text, which already speaks of an unnamed Nabatean king and which probably dates from the 3rd century BC. BC. Should the Aretas mentioned on the inscription of Elusa be identical with this unknown king, it would mean that the beginnings of the Nabatean kingship were to be set significantly earlier and that the Aretas mentioned in the Bible was neither the first of his name nor could be considered as the founder of the empire.

literature

  • FM Heichelheim : History of Syria and Palestine from the conquest by Cyrus II to the occupation by Islam (547 BC - 641/2 AD). In: Oriental history from Cyrus to Mohammed (= Handbook of Oriental Studies , first section, second volume, fourth section, delivery 2). Brill, Leiden 1966, p. 195 ( online ).
  • Ulrich Wilcken : Aretas 1 . In: Paulys Realencyclopadie der classischen Antiquity Science (RE). Volume II, 1, Stuttgart 1895, Col. 673.
  • Manfred Lindner: The History of the Nabataeans. In: Same: Petra and the Kingdom of the Nabataeans. 6th edition, Delp, Bad Windsheim 1997, especially p. 52.
  • Sara Karz Reid: The Small Temple. A Roman Imperial Cult Building in Petra, Jordan. Gorgias Press, Piscataway 2005, p. 10 f. ( online ).
  • Robert Wenning: A newly compiled list of the Nabatean dynasty. In: Boreas. Münster's contributions to archeology , Volume 16, 1993, pp. 25–38, especially pp. 27–29.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ 2 Makk 5.8  EU
  2. ↑ 1 Makk 5.24  EU ff.
  3. ↑ Flavius ​​Josephus, Antiquitates (12, 335–336)
  4. ^ Frank M. Cross: The Oldest Manuscripts from Qumran. In: Journal of Biblical Literature , Volume 74, 1955, No. 3, pp. 147-172, esp. P. 160.
  5. ^ Robert Wenning: A newly created list of the Nabatean dynasty. In: Boreas. Münster's contributions to archeology , Volume 16, 1993, pp. 25–38, especially pp. 27–29.
personal data
SURNAME Aretas I.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION King of the Nabataeans
DATE OF BIRTH 3rd century BC BC or 2nd century BC Chr.
DATE OF DEATH 2nd century BC Chr.