MALICHUS II & SHAQILATH II Arab Kingdom of Nabataea PETRA Rare Greek Coin i46669

Item: i46669

Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Arab Kingdom of

Silver Drachm 15mm (3.73 grams) Petra mint, Struck circa 49 A.D.

Reference: Sear GIC 5702; Cf. Meshorer, Nabataea 134

Laureate bust of Malichus right; around, Aramaic legend = ‘Malichus the king,
king of Nabataea, year 9’ (= circa A.D. 49)
Veiled and draped bust of Queen Shaquilath II right; around, Aramaic legend = ‘Shaqilath,
his siter, queen of Nabataea’.

Malichus II was the son of Aretas IV and Shaquilath I. Shaqilath II was the
sister and wife of Malichus II.

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.

Malichus II ( Arabic : مالك, Malik ) ruled
Nabatea
from 40 to 70.

According to some scholars, during his reign, Nabataean power decreased and
it lost control of
Damascus
while others state the evidence that
Nabataeans formally controlled Damascus in the 34 to 40 period is very weak to
nonexistent. with
Gerd Lüdemann
stating “that control never
existed” for the 37 to 39 period  and Peter Alpass stating “it seems
unlikely that the Romans would be willing to cede control of such important
centre to the Nabataean king.” and that Paul’s reference to an ethnarch was to
“the official in control of a Nabataean community in Damascus, and not the city
as a whole.”

The Romans
had diverted the routes of
spice
and
perfume
cargo shipments to
Egypt
. Rome was very powerful, so Malichus
cooperated. In 66, a
Jewish

revolt
occurred in
Iudaea
. Malichus sent 5,000 cavalry and 1,000
infantry to help Titus
crush the rebellion.

See also

• Rulers of Nabatea

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