A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

278

ARETE.

remained behind in Syria, invaded Arabia Petraea,
but was unable to reach Petra. He laid waste,
however, the surrounding country, and withdrew
his army on Aretas' paying 300 talents. (Joseph.
Ant. xiv. 5. ~ 1.) This expedition of Scaurus is
commemorated on a coin, which is given under
SCAURUS. The successors of Scaurus in Syria also
prosecuted the war with the Arabs. (Appian, Syr.
50.)
3. The father-in-law of Herod Antipas of
Judaea. Herod dismissed his wife, the daughter
of Aretas, in consequence of having formed an
incestuous connexion with Herodias, his brother
Philip's wife, as we learn from the Evangelists.
To revenge the wrongs of his daughter, Aretas
made war upon Herod, and defeated him in a
great battle. Herod applied for assistance to the
Romans; and Vitellius, the governor of Syria, received an order to punish Aretas. He accordingly
marched against Petra; but while he was on the
road, he received intelligence of the death of
Tiberius (A. 1. 37), and gave up the expedition in
consequence. (Joseph. Ant. xviii. 5. ~~ 1, 3.)
This Aretas seems to have been the same who had
possession of Damascus at the time of the conversion of the Apostle Paul, A. D. 31. (2 Corinth. xi.
32, 33; Acts ix. 19-25.) It is not improbable
that Aretas obtained possession of Damascus in a
war with Herod at an earlier period than Josephus
has mentioned; as it seems likely that Aretas
would have resented the affront soon after it was
given, instead of allowing so many years to intervene, as the narrative of Josephus would imply.
The Aretas into whose dominions Aelius Gallus
came in the time of Augustus, is probably also the
same as the father-in-law of Herod. (Strab. xvi.
p. 781.)
The following is a coin of Aretas, king of
Damascus, but whether it belongs to No. 2 or No.
3 is doubtful. (Eckhel, iii. p. 330.) Perhaps it is
a coin of No. 2, and may have been struck when
he took possession of Syria at the invitation of the
inhabitants of Damascus: in that case there
would have been good reason for the inscription
'IAEAAHNO2 upon it.
COIN OF ARETAS.
ARE'TE ('ApjiT), the wife of Alcinous, king
of the Phaeacians. In the Odyssey she appears as
a noble and active superintendent of the household
of her husband, and when Odysseus arrived in tihe
island, he first applied to queen Arete to obtain
hospitable reception and protection. (Hom. Od. vi.
310, vii. 65, &c., 142.) Respecting her connexion
with the story of Jason and Medeia, see ALCINOUS. [L. S.]
A'RETE ('ApeT7), daughter of the elder Dionysius and Aristomache. She was first married to
Thearides, and upon his death to her uncle Dion, the
brother of her mother Aristomache. After Dion had
fled fr9m Syracuse during the reign of the younger
Dionysits, Arete was compelled by her brother to

ARETHUSA.
marry Timocrates, one of his friends; but she was
again received by Dion as his wife, when he had
obtained possession of Syracuse and expelled the
younger Dionysius. After Dion's assassination,
B. c. 353, Arete was imprisoned together with her
mother, and brought forth a son while in confinement. Arete and Aristomache were subsequently
liberated and kindly received by Hicetas, one of
Dion's friends, but he was afterwards persuaded by
the enemies of Dion to drown them. (Plut. Dion,
6, 21, 51, 57, 58; Aelian, V. H. xii. 47, who
erroneously makes Arete the mother, and Aristomache the wife of Dion.)
ARE'TE ('ApjrT), daughter of Aristippus, the
founder of the Cyrenaic school of philosophy. She
was instructed by him in the principles of his system, which she transmitted to her son, Aristippus
jnirpoi16acKros, to whom Ritter (Gesch. der Phil.
vii. 1. 3) ascribes the formal completion of the earlier Cyrenaic doctrine. We are told by Diogenes
Laertius (ii. 72), that her father taught her contentment and moderation, both by precept and
practice, and the same duties are insisted on in an
epistle now extant, said to be addressed to her by
him. This letter is certainly spurious [ARISTIPPUS], although Lairtius mentions among the writings of Aristippus an irri-rom)} srphs 'Aprs'rrv sw v
svya-rpa. Whether the letter to which he refers
was the same as that which we possess, is uncertain; but the fact that it was extant in his time
would not prove its authenticity. Aelian (HI. A.
iii. 40) calls Arete the sister of Aristippus, but this
assertion is opposed to the statement of all other
writers; and, besides, the passage which contains
it is corrupt. (Diog. Lairt. ii. 72, 86; Brucker,
Hist. Crit. Phil. ii. 2, 3.) [G. E. L. C.]
ARETES of Dyrrachium, an ancient chronographer, some of whose calculations Censorinus (de
Die Nat. 18, 21) mentions.
A'RETHAS ('ApeOas). 1. Archbishop of Caesareia in Cappadocia at an uncertain time (A. D.
540, according to Coccius and Cave), appears to
have succeeded ANDREAS. He wrote a commentary on the Apocalypse (o'uho'oy7 'j'yracrwv eic
la(pdpowv dyiwv avs3pcv els Trv 'Iwdvvuov T70O dya7ringcvov tal eda'y'yeAorov 'A rociAsmJtu), which,
as its title implies, was compiled from many preprevious works, and especially from that of Andreas. It is usually printed with the works of
OECUMENIUS.
2. Presbyter of Caesareia in Cappadocia, wrote a
work " on the translation of St. Euthymius, patriarch of Constantinople," who died A. D. 911. The
date of Arethas is therefore fixed at 920. (Oudinus,
Comment. de Script. Eccles. ii. p. 426, who, without
sufficient reason, identifies the former Arethas with
this writer.)
3. The author of an epigram " On his own
Sister" (enl rr 71a, dSAhp.), which is found ir
the Vatican MS. under the title of 'ApdOa roi
amoi'edov. (Jacobs, Paralip. ex Cod. Vatic. No
211, in Anthol. Graec. xiii. p. 744.) If thi
words added in the margin, Y'eyov6ros I8 K
dpXE7ricaKOrov KaImaealas KairraSoLc/as, may b
taken as an authority, he was the same person a
the Archbishop of Caesareia. [P. S.]
ARETHU'SA ('ApEOovea), one of the Nereid
(Hygin. Praef. p. 9, ed. Staveren; Virg. Geory. i,
344), and the nymph of the famous well Arethus
in the island of Ortygia near Syracuse. [ALPHEIUS,
Virgil (Eclog. iv. 1, x. 1) reckons her among tl