Aretes = "graver"

 1) An Arabian king

 He made war in 36 A.D. on his son-in-law Herod Antipas for having
 divorced his daughter; and with such success as completely to
 destroy his army. In consequence of this, Vitellius, governor of
 Syria, being ordered by Tiberius to march an army against Aretes,
 prepared for war. But Tiberius meantime having died, (Mar. 16, 37),
 he recalled his troops from march, dismissed them to winter
 quarters, and departed for Rome. After his departure Aretas held
 sway over the region of Damascus (how acquired we do not know), and
 placed an ethnarch over the city, who tried to capture Paul.