Augustus and Aretas IV Æ 22mm of uncertain mint. Dated year 8 = 1 BC / AD 1. AVGVS TR • POT, laureate head of Augustus to left / Diademed head of Aretas IV to left; Nabataean date SHNT ///~ 'year 8' before. Al-Qatanani 173; RPC I Supp. 5419 corr. (uncertain near east); SNG Hunterian 4983. 7.90g, 22mm, 12h.

Good Very Fine. Extremely Rare; only six examples known to RPC, of which this is one of the finest.

From the inventory of a UK dealer.

This coin, which has been to date attributed to an uncertain near eastern mint, has been recently re-evaluated, with two experts in Nabataean coinage independently coming to the conclusion that the type should correctly be ascribed to the Nabataean king Aretas IV on the basis of clearer readings of the date and portrait style. The authors of the RPC supplement noted that the Aramaic legend on the reverse of this extremely rare issue clearly reads shin nun taf (year) III followed by what they described as "an uncertain character which might be a ten". The coinage of Octavian and Zenodorus of Chalcis ad Belum was cited by RPC as a parallel (cf. RPC I 4775-6) however it was not clear whether or not a client king is depicted here.

Y. Al-Qatanani (Nabataean Coins, 2020) and S. Alshdaifat (Athena Numismatics inv. z1540, $16,000) howver both read the date as Nabataean year 8. Following the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, Augustus respected the terms of his client king's will, which stipulated the division of Herod's kingdom among three of his sons. The Herodian Kingdom of Judea was therefore divided into the Herodian Tetrarchy, jointly ruled by Herod's sons and sister: Herod Archelaus (who ruled Judea, Samaria and Idumea), Herod Philip (who ruled Batanea, Trachonitis as well as Auranitis), Herod Antipas (who ruled Galilee and Perea) and Salome I (who briefly ruled Jamnia). A messianic revolt thereupon erupted in Judea because of Archelaus's incompetence; the revolt was brutally crushed by the Legate of Syria, Publius Quinctilius Varus, who occupied Jerusalem and crucified 2000 Jewish rebels. Aretas, though not on particularly good terms with Rome and recognised as king by Augustus only after some delay caused by the intrigues of Syllaeus, nevertheless took part in the expedition of Varus against the Jews, placing a considerable army at Rome's disposal. 

No coins are otherwise known to exist from the years 3-1 BC during Aretas' reign, so this type fills an otherwise inexplicable gap in the Nabataean numismatic record. While not of Nabataean fabric, it remains possible that it was struck at a mint under Roman control or that of one of their clients, for Aretas.