Arabia Petraea, a Roman province and its monetary issues

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/issn.2448-1750.revmae.2019.164258

Keywords:

Rome’s Arabian Province, Arabia Petraea, Nabataean Kingdom, Roman Empire, Local currencies

Abstract

Arabia Petraea, or Rome’s Arabian Province as it is also known, was founded by the Romans in 106 AD, but had been a client kingdom of the Roman Empire since the year 63 of the Common Era. It had an important strategic role in guarding the rear of Judea and the Southern flank of Syria. The instability generated by the rivalries and particular interests of the different client states eventually inclined Rome towards the solution of a gradual and definitive provincialization of the region. Despite being the most stable client kingdom, Nabataea was a hiatus in the Eastern geography of the empire. Its annexation thus responded to short and long-term strategic and territorial approaches, fundamentally to a rationalization of the management of the Roman East, which opened a completely new phase in the history of the region. It is our aim in this paper to present the history of the Roman conquest of the Nabataeans, the geographical constitution of this province, and the political and economic issues surrounding the formation of this Roman province at the time of Emperor Trajan. It is our intention to demonstrate the potential for reflection and apprehension of the political, social, economic and religious universe that the coins produced in this region can offer us.

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Author Biography

  • Vagner Carvalheiro Porto, Universidade de São Paulo. Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia. Laboratório de Roma Provincial

    Co-coordenador do Laboratório de Arqueologia Romana Provincial, LARP-MAE/USP

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Published

2019-11-21

How to Cite

PORTO, Vagner Carvalheiro. Arabia Petraea, a Roman province and its monetary issues. Revista do Museu de Arqueologia e Etnologia, São Paulo, Brasil, n. 32, p. 167–178, 2019. DOI: 10.11606/issn.2448-1750.revmae.2019.164258. Disponível em: https://www.journals.usp.br/revmae/article/view/164258.. Acesso em: 15 may. 2024.