Nabataean coinage

The coinage of Nabataea began under the reign of Aretas II, c. 110 – 96 BC but it was his heir Aretas III, who at the time was in control of land extending to Damascus. The silver coinage is based on the weight of the Roman Denarius or Greek Drachma,^[1] as the adjacent areas around Nabataea used the Greek weight system, it is presumed the coins are of this standard. The local name of the denominations are not known so the Latin denarius and Greek drachma equivalents are used interchangeably.

Some authors state it to be based on the Phoenician drachmae instead on the Attic drachmae weight standard.^[2] Most common is the small bronze coinage of between 5–25 mm in diameter, which was in use at the same time as the coins of Judaea.^[3] The name of these coins is unknown but they do correspond with the common bronze coins issued at the time in the Greek area of influence.