Aretas IV ruled the Nabataean Kingdom for over five decades — one of the longest reigns in the dynasty's history — and his coinage with Phasaelis, his first wife, dates to the earlier portion of that reign before she was famously divorced in favor of Herodias. That repudiation directly provoked a war with Herod Antipas, an episode recorded by Josephus and obliquely referenced in the New Testament. Coins naming both rulers together therefore belong to a specific political moment before that rupture.
Aretas IV ruled the Nabataean Kingdom for over five decades — one of the longest reigns in the dynasty's history — and his coinage with Phasaelis, his first wife, dates to the earlier portion of that reign before she was famously divorced in favor of Herodias. That repudiation directly provoked a war with Herod Antipas, an episode recorded by Josephus and obliquely referenced in the New Testament. Coins naming both rulers together therefore belong to a specific political moment before that rupture.