II. Coins (as before) of the ‘ year 2 of the emanci- pation of Israel’—Ssrw mind av.
This group is composed of two main
classes of Beatin - rachms of Simeon,
viz.— iii. A. D.-d. of Simeon, with his name, con- tracted (yow) or in full (pow), within a
Lie ΠῸ B. D.-d. of Simeon, with his name always in full round a bunch of grapes. Each of these may be arranged in four sub- classes, according to the type of the reverse,
viz.—
(a) Rev. Sacrificial flagon, with small
alm branch above.
(6) Kev. Three-stringed lyre,
(c) Rev. Two trumpets. (d) Rev. Palm branch.
iv. Tetradrachms of the same year with obv. legend ‘ Jerusalem.’
y. Tetradrachms of the same year with obv. legend ‘Simeon.’
ΠῚ. Undated coins of ‘the emancipation of Jerusalem ’—obery mind.
vi. D.-d. of Simeon, falling into two classes (A and B), each into four sub-classes (a)-(d) as under division iii. above.t
vii. Undated tetradrachms of Simeon.
From the great variety of coins above repre- sented we have selected three from group III. for Ulustration—a re-struck drachm, apa are and tetradrachm (this last showing no traces of the original) from the British Museum collection.
bv, pyoe round a bunch of grapes.
Rev. obenv nnd round a three-stringed lyre (class vi. B ὃ of Hamburger’s classification above). Plate No. 17.
This is a re-struck drachm of Trajan from the mint of Cesarea Ca ociz ; on the reverse may be seen AYTOKP, IC. of the legend of the original obverse, and on the present obverse ([AH}MAPX from the original reverse legend (see Wroth’s Catalogue, p. 54 ff.).
Obv. As above (Plate No. 18).
Rev. Same legend ; type, two trumpets (= Ham-
burger’s vi. Bc).
A re-struck denarius of Trajan; on the obverse are clear traces of the back of the emperor's head, with the ends of the ribbons with which the wreath was fastened, while the reverse shows the arm of Arabia as a female holding a branch over a camel. No. 19 shows the original denarius of A.D. 105.
Obv. pyow. Type of uncertain significance (by Madden, ‘a conventional figure of the Beauti- ful Gate of the Temple; below, Solomon’s colonnade’ [?}); above, a star.
Rev. obevy mnn>. Type, a lilab (see previous section) with small ethrog as adjunct. (No. 20).
A tetradrachm of class vii. above; weight of specimen, 213 grs.
*In the uel, " one,’ ‘year two’ denote that the Hebrew wort are wiltten in full; ‘yr. 1,’ ‘yr. 2’ represent the contractions kv, 22.
ἡ This gives in all sixteen possible varieties of denarius- drachms issued in Simeon’s name, only fifteen of which have as yet been recovered.
Hamburger has not dealt with the copper coins of this period in the same systematic way. The following arrangement is here proposed, and will be found to embrace most of the coins.
I. Bronze coins of ‘the first year of the
redemption of Israel.’
i. Coins of ‘Eleazar the priest,’ written in bizarre fashion on either side of the stem of a palm-tree. Rev. type a bunch of grapes (see Madden, 198 ἢ, who refers these coins to an Eleazar of the first revolt). It is now evident that these cannot be separated from the Eleazar silver coins of the second revolt.
ii. Various denominations of ‘Simeon, prince of Israel,’ with, as types, palm, vine leaf, diota (two-eared jar), lyre, etc. (Madden, 203 ff. ).
II. Bronze coins of ‘ year 2 of the emancipation of Israel.’
11, Obv. jyow (sic) and yow on either side of a
eee, yes of Rev. (a) bunch of grapes, (δ) vine eaf.
iv. Οδυ. obey arranged as in iii., and with same rev. types.
III. Undated bronzes of ‘the emancipation of Jerusalem.’
v. Obv. pyow arranged as above, and with same rev. types.
vi. Obv. obey arranged as above, and with same rev. types.
From the relative sizes (42 4 and 6) and weights of the bronzes with the bunch of grapes and the vine leaf respectively as obv. types (see No. 21), it is evident that the former are one half of the latter, perhaps ‘current’ chalki and dichalki re- spectively (see § 8). The types of these revolt coins, silver and copper alike, in almost all cases have a reference to some characteristic product of the country (palm, vine, grapes), or to the paraphernalia of the temple-worship (lyre, flagon, trumpets).
The fall of Bethar, the modern Bittir, a few miles S.W. of Jerusalem, where Simeon and his frenzied followers made their last despairing stand, had been preceded by the recapture of Jeru- salem, on the site of which Hadrian built his new city of Alia Capitolina. The coins commemor- ating its foundation are given by Madden, p 558 de Saulcy, Numism. de la Terre Sainte, . 63 δὲ
Our task is done. Yet the writer cannot forbeaz
to call attention once more to the most striking feature of Jewish numismatics, and to a reflexion which it suggests. Not once in the whole course of their history did the Jews enjoy, as a constitu- tional and legal right, the privilege of coining money in either silver or gold.—Is not this a remarkable testimony to the fact that the true mission of the Hebrew race lay in another than the temporal sphere, even the spiritual? ‘Out of Zion’ went ‘forth the Law, and the Word of the Lord from Jerusalem.’