Aretas

Aretas (meaning agreeable or virtuous) was a dynastic name of the Nabataean kings of Arabia Petraea. The Aretas most significant to New Testament history is Aretas IV, the father-in-law of Herod Antipas. When Antipas divorced Aretas's daughter to enter an adulterous union with Herodias (Mark 6:17), Aretas launched a war against him and destroyed his army. He subsequently gained control of Damascus, and his governor there attempted to arrest Paul—a dramatic episode Paul himself recalls as an illustration of his sufferings (2 Corinthians 11:32).