Anonymous Arab Kingdom of Nabataea PETRA 270BC Athena Nike Greek Coin i46676

Item: i46676

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Arab Kingdom of

Bronze 16mm (4.04 grams) Petra mint, circa 270-72 B.C.
Reference: HGC 10, 671; Meshorer, Nabataea 1-4
Helmeted head of Athena right.
Nike advancing left, holding wreath and cornucopia; crescent above
Λ in field to left.

The north-Arabian kingdom of the Nabataeans, with their capital at Petra,

continued in existence until the early years of the 2nd Century A.D., when

emperor Trajan created the Roman province of Arabia.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

Athena
or Athene (Latin:

Minerva
),
also referred to as Pallas Athena, is the goddess of war, civilization,
wisdom, strength, strategy, crafts, justice and skill in
Greek mythology
.
Minerva
,
Athena’s Roman


incarnation,
embodies similar attributes. Athena is also a shrewd companion of

heroes and the
goddess

of heroic

endeavour. She is the
virgin

patron of Athens
.
The Athenians built the
Parthenon

on the Acropolis of her namesake city, Athens, in her honour (Athena Parthenos).
Athena’s cult as the patron of Athens seems to have existed from the earliest
times and was so persistent that archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to
cultural changes. In her role as a protector of the city (polis),
many people throughout the Greek world worshiped Athena as Athena Polias
(“Athena of the city”).
Athens

and Athena bear etymologically connected names.

In
Greek mythology
,
Nike
was a
goddess
who personified
victory
, also known as the Winged Goddess of
Victory. The Roman equivalent was
Victoria
. Depending upon the time of various
myths, she was described as the daughter of
Pallas
(Titan) and

Styx (Water) and the sister of
Kratos
(Strength),
Bia
(Force), and
Zelus
(Zeal). Nike and her siblings were close
companions of Zeus
, the dominant deity of the
Greek pantheon
. According to classical (later)
myth, Styx brought them to Zeus when the god was assembling allies for the
Titan War
against the older deities. Nike
assumed the role of the divine
charioteer
, a role in which she often is
portrayed in Classical Greek art. Nike flew around battlefields rewarding the
victors with glory and fame.

Nike is seen with wings in most statues and paintings. Most other winged
deities in the Greek pantheon had shed their wings by Classical times. Nike is
the goddess of strength, speed, and victory. Nike was a very close acquaintance
of Athena
, and is thought to have stood in
Athena’s outstretched hand in the statue of Athena located in the Parthenon.
Nike is one of the most commonly portrayed figures on Greek coins.

Names stemming from Nike include amongst others:
Nicholas
, Nicola, Nick, Nikolai, Nils, Klaas,
Nicole, Ike, Niki, Nikita, Nika, Niketas, and Nico.

Al Khazneh or The Treasury at Petra

Petra (Arabic:
البتراء, Al-Batrāʾ;
Ancient Greek
: Πέτρα) is a
historical
and
archaeological
city in the southern
Jordanian
governorate of
Ma’an
that is famous for its
rock-cut architecture
and water conduit system.
Another name for Petra is the Rose City due to the color of the stone out of
which it is carved.

Established possibly as early as 312 BC as the capital city of the
Nabataeans
, it is a symbol of Jordan, as well
as Jordan’s most-visited tourist attraction. It lies on the slope of
Jebel al-Madhbah
(identified by some as the
biblical Mount Hor
^[4])
in a
basin
among the mountains which form the
eastern flank of Arabah
(Wadi Araba), the large valley running
from the Dead Sea
to the
Gulf of Aqaba
. Petra has been a
UNESCO

World Heritage Site
since 1985.

The site remained unknown to the
Western world
until 1812, when it was
introduced by
Swiss
explorer
Johann Ludwig Burckhardt
. It was described as
“a rose-red city half as old as time” in a
Newdigate Prize
-winning poem by
John William Burgon
. UNESCO has described it as
“one of the most precious cultural properties of man’s cultural heritage”. See:
UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists
.
Petra was chosen by the
Smithsonian Magazine
as one of the “28
Places to See Before You Die”.

The Nabataean kingdom, also named Nabatea(Arabic:نبطية) (many
times spelled Nabatean), was an Arabic political state of the
Nabataeans
which existed during
classical antiquity
and was annexed by the
Roman Empire
in CE 106.

Geography

Located between the
Sinai Peninsula
and the
Arabian Peninsula
, its northern neighbour was
the kingdom of Judea
, and its south western neighbour was
Ptolemaic Egypt
. Its capital was the city of
Petra
in
Jordan
, and it included the towns of
Bostra
,
Mada’in Saleh
, and
Nitzana
.

Petra was a wealthy trading town, located at a convergence of several
important trade routes
. One of them was the
Incense Route
which was based around the
production of both myrrh
and
frankincense
in southern Arabia, and ran
through Mada’in Saleh to Petra. From here the aromatics were distributed
throughout the Mediterranean region.

History

Nabataean origins date from a time when they were nomadic pastoralists in the
Negev
and the
Sinai Peninsula
during
Achaemenid Persian
rule, around the 4th century
BCE.

Nabateans and
Hasmoneans

The Nabataeans were allies of the first
Hasmoneans
in their struggles against the
Seleucid
monarchs. They then became rivals of
the Judaean dynasty, and a chief element in the disorders which invited
Pompey
‘s intervention in
Judea
. Many Nabataeans were forcefully
converted to Judaism
by the
Hasmonean
king
Alexander Jannaeus
. It was this King who, after
putting down a local rebellion, invaded and occupied the Nabataean towns of

Moab and Gilead
and imposed a tribute of an unspecified
amount. Obodas I
knew that Alexander would attack, so
was able to ambush Alexander’s forces near Gaulane (Golan)
destroying the Judean army in 90 BCE. Under the reign of
Aretas III
(87 to 62 BCE) the kingdom seems to
have reached its territorial zenith, but was defeated by a Roman army under the
command of
Marcus Aemilius Scaurus
. Scaurus’ army even
besieged Petra, but eventually a compromise was negotiated. Paying a tribute,
Aretas III received the formal recognition by the
Roman Republic
.

The Nabatean kingdom saw itself slowly surrounded by the expanding
Roman Empire
, which conquered Egypt and annexed
Hasmonean Judea. While the Nabatean kingdom managed to preserve its formal
independence, it became a client kingdom under the influence of Rome.

Roman annexation

 

In 106 CE, during the reign of Roman emperor
Trajan
, the last king of the Nabatean kingdom
Rabbel II Soter
died. This event might have
prompted the official annexation of Nabatea to the Roman Empire, although the
formal reasons, and the exact manner of annexation, are unknown.

Some epigraphic evidence suggests a military campaign, commanded by
Cornelius Palma
, the governor of
Syria
. Roman forces seem to have come from
Syria and also from
Egypt
. It is clear that by 107 CE Roman legions
were stationed in the area around Petra and Bostra, as is shown by a papyrus
found in Egypt. The kingdom was annexed by the empire, becoming the province of
Arabia Petraea
. Trade seems to have largely
continued thanks to the Nabataens’ undiminished talent for trading.

Under Hadrian
, the
limes Arabicus
ignored most of the Nabatæan
territory and ran northeast from Aila (modern
Aqaba
) at the head of the
Gulf of Aqaba
. A century later, during the
reign of
Alexander Severus
, the local issue of coinage
came to an end. There is no more building of sumptuous tombs, owing apparently
to a sudden change in political ways, such as an invasion by the neo-Persian
power under the
Sassanid Empire
.

The city of Palmyra
, for a time the capital of the
breakaway
Palmyrene Empire
(fl. 130–270), grew in
importance and attracted the Arabian trade away from Petra.

See also

• List of rulers of Nabatea
• Nephesh