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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;John Anthony, post: 2208822, member: 42773&quot;]Here&#039;s another addition to my Nabataeans, a civic issue of Damascus, minted by Aretas III (83-62 BC). Aretas III defeated the Seleucid king Antiochus XII, which came as a pleasant surprise to the citizens of Damascus. They forthwith invited him to be their new king, as they were constantly faced with Ituraean harassment.</p><p><br /></p><p>This isn&#039;t a Nabataean coin <i>per se</i> - it&#039;s a Damascene city issue, closely following the previous Seleucid model: bust of king on obverse, Nike standing on reverse. The difference between this coin and all of its Seleucid cousins is the inscription APETOY, and Aretas&#039; monogram AP to the left.</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s not pretty, but it&#039;s exceedingly rare. Meshorer recorded two examples. This one may be the third known, although I&#039;m sure there are others out there, probably mixed in with their common Seleucid lookalikes. This is the dealer&#039;s pic, which I&#039;ve added to the catalog of coins of Aretas III on my website <a href="http://www.nabataeannumismatics.com/AretasIIIbronze.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.nabataeannumismatics.com/AretasIIIbronze.html" rel="nofollow">here</a>. I&#039;ll be updating the image when the coin arrives. I don&#039;t expect any accolades for this coin, but it does make for a very important addition to my Nabataean research...</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]431320[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Arètas III (84-71 av. J-C). Bronze. Damas. Sa tête diadémée à droite.</p><p>R/: Niké tourelée debout à gauche, tenant un sceptre et une couronne.</p><p>Meshorer 8. 3,56 g.</p><p>Ex Jacquier, Kehl, liste 8, printemps 1988, n° 130</p><p><br /></p><p>Note that the dealer&#039;s date reflects the time period during which the coin was minted, not that of Aretas III&#039;s reign. At some point during the reign of this king, the Nabataeans abandoned Damascus without a fight, and officially moved their capitol to Petra. I discuss the dating of these coins in detail on <a href="http://www.nabataeannumismatics.com/AretasIIIDating.html" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.nabataeannumismatics.com/AretasIIIDating.html" rel="nofollow">this page</a>.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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