Last Coin

Area/Ruler: Nabathaea: King Malichus II and Queen Shaqilath II
Reigned: 40 AD - 71 AD
Denomination: AE 17mm
Obverse: Jugate busts right.
Reverse: Crossed Cornuacopiae.Between them, Aramaic legend "Malichus, Shaqilath" in three lines.
Reference: Meshorer 140, SNG ANS 144, GIC 5703
Weight: 3.2 gms
Diameter: 17.5 mm

NABATAEANS

The Nabataeans were an ancient people of northwest Arabia and ancestors to the modern Arabs. Their capital was at Petra, founded in 450 BC by a Bedouin tribe, near the modern town of Wadi Musa, Jordan. They had advanced hydraulic skills and commercial organisation. In the 1st century BC the Nabataean Kingdom included a large area east of Palestine from Damascus to the Red Sea. They were mainly hostile to the Eygptians and after the Battle of Actium, Cleopatra attempted to transport her ships across the Gulf of Suez and build more, so as to control the Red Sea, but the Nabataeans raided her docks and burnt everything. The province was annexed by Rome in AD 106, and became the province of Arabia Petraea.

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