Aretas
Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia
(virtuous) — the name of two persons: a) (2 Cor. 11:32) king of Syria, father-in-law of Herod Antipas, who ruled Damascus. The governor of Damascus, when the Apostle Paul was in this city, wished, in order to favor the Jews, to seize him; but the apostle escaped danger, being let down from a window in a basket by believers, over the city wall — an event which the Apostle Paul mentions in this passage of his epistle; b) (2 Macc. 5:8) Aretas — king of Arabia. This name was borne by the kings of the Nabateans, whose capital was the city of Petra.