In the mid-20's BC,
Augustus sought to win some share in the operations of the Sabaeans, who
had become quite wealthy by the exportation of spices and perfumes, primarily frankincense. The
Nabataeans were recruited to assist
Aelius Gallus in an expedition to
Arabia Felix. This must have posed no small conundrum to the
Nabataeans, as they
had profited greatly from being the middlemen in the spice trade. Nevertheless, Sylleaus, Obodas II's vizier, accompanied the
Romans as a guide. Strabo gives the account...
"He (Aelius Gallus) was, moreover, encouraged to undertake this enterprise by the expectation of assistance from the Nabataeans, who promised to cooperate with him in everything. Upon these inducements Gallus set out on the expedition. But he was deceived by Syllaeus, the king's minister of the Nabataeans, who had promised to be his guide on march, and to assist him in the execution of his design. Syllaeus was, however, treacherous throughout; for he neither guided them by a safe course by sea along the coast, nor by a safe road for the army as he promised, but exposed both fleet and the army to danger by directing them where there was no road, or the road was impracticable, where they were obliged to make long circuits, or to pass through tracts of country destitute of everything; he led the fleet along a rocky coast without harbors, or to places abounding with rocks concealed under water, or with shallows. In places of this description particularly, the flowing and ebbing of the tide did them the most harm." (Strabo
XVI.iv.25ff)
Strabo goes on to describe the disastrous expedition in considerable detail, placing the blame for the
Roman failure squarely on Sylleaus' shoulders. Strabo's account is frequently cited as the Gospel truth on the matter, but G. W. Bowersock offers another perspective...
"The geographer Strabo was a personal friend of the leader of the Arabian expedition, Aelius Gallus, and took care to leave a relatively detailed account of it. In Strabo’s view Augustus expected the expedition to be advantageous to the Romans, either by compelling the affluent Sabaeans to become Rome’s allies or by conquering their territory outright. But Gallus’ expedition turned out to be a terrible disaster; and Strabo, unwilling to pin the blame upon his friend and patron, found in the Nabataean minister of Obodas, Sylleaus, a suitable scapegoat. Sylleaus had served as a native guide for the Roman force, which he had led over a hard route to the outskirts of the capital of the Sabaeans. Strabo blames him not only for choosing a route which debilitated the Roman army but even for bringing the troops across from Egypt to the coastal port of Leuke Kome in the Ḥejāz. Yet it would certainly have been foolish, despite Strabo’s protestations, to have imported a Roman army into Petra and then to march overland through the wilderness of the Ḥismā into the inner Ḥejāz. Furthermore, there could have been no route to the capitol of the Sabaeans which would have passed through country familiar or tolerable to Roman soldiers. Later events in Nabataean history show that Sylleaus was unscrupulously ambitious and cruel. Strabo must have known this and found it convenient to see in this character a willful saboteur in the army of Aelius Gallus. But, for all that, there is nothing in what happened to suggest that Sylleaus actually played such a role." (Bowersock, G. W. 1983.
Roman Arabia. Pp. 47-8.)
The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Certainly the
Nabataeans had no desire to lead Gallus to
Arabia Felix, but it is also unlikely that they would have gone out of their way to make the
Romans’ journey any easier. In fact, the real subterfuge in this matter probably consists of Sylleaus rolling out the
red carpet, knowing full well that the
Romans would not survive the walk. The
Nabataeans were as well adapted to desert vicissitudes as Gallus and
his men were not.
This new acquisition is of the same
type that Jochen posted in Reply 36. I have, for a very long time, searched for an example of this coin with a bold,
complete portrait of Obodas in archaic
style. The
search is over.
Nabataean Kingdom, Obodas II, Sylleaus,
Aretas IV.
AE 16, 2.38g, 1h;
Petra mint: 9 BC.
Obv.: Diademed
head of Obodas II; in left
field,
Nabataean letter shin.
Rev. Crossed cornucopias; in left
field, shin.
Reference:
Meshorer 43
var.,
Schmitt-Korte 26.
