eated ; and towards the close of the 3d century the ex- ergue of the reverse is occupied by the name of the town where the coin is struck. The coins of Augustus and those of Livia, Antonia, and Agrippina the elder have much artistic merit. The workmanship of Nero's sester- tii is very beautiful. The coins of Vespasian and Titus commemorate the conquest of Judtea. The Colosseum appears on a sestertius of Vespasian. The coins of Tra- jan are noted for their architectural types. Hadrian's coins commemorate his journeys. The coins and medals of Antonine, Marcus Aurelius, and the two Faustinas are well executed, as are also those of Commodus, of whom a remarkable medallion relates to the conquest of Brit- ain. There is a rapid falling off in design after the time of Commodus, and base silver comes extensively into use in the reign of Caracalla. Gallienus introduced the prac- tice of coining money of copper washed with silver.
The colonial and provincial money of this period was verj'^ inferior to that coined in Rome. In the coins of the provinces which had been formed out of the Greek empire the obverse bears the emperor's head, and the reverse generally the chief temple of the gods in the city of coinage ; the inscriptions are in Greek. In the imperial coins of Alexandria appear such characteristic devices as the heads of Jupiter Ammon, Isis, and Cano- pus, the sphinx, the serpent, the lotus, and the wheat- ear. Colonial coins were at first distinguished by a team of oxen, afterwards by banners, the number of which indicated the number of legions from which the colony had been drawn.
After the time of Gallienus the colonial money and the Greek imperial monej^, except that of Alexandria, ceased, and much of the Roman coinage was executed in the provmces, the name of the town of issue appear- ing on the exergue. Diocletian introduced a new piece of money, called the yo//«A-, which became the chief coin of the lower empire. The first bronze disappeared after Gallienus, and the second disappears after Diocle- tian, the third bronze diminishing to gy th of an ounce. With the establishment of Christnlnity under Constan- tine a few Christian types are introduced. The third bronze of that emperor has the Labarum (q. v.), with the monogram HIS. Large medallions, called contor- niati, encircled with a deep groove, belong to this pe- riod, and seem to have been prizes for distribution at the public games. Pagan types recur on the coins of Julian ; and after his time the third bronze disappears.
The money of the Byzantine empire forms a link be- tween the subject of ancient and that of modern coins. The portrait of the emperor on the obverse is after the 10th century supported by some protecting saint. The reverse has at first such types as Victory with a cross, afterwards a representation of the Saviour or the Virgin ; in some instances, the Virgin supporting the walls of Constantinople. Latin is gradually superseded by Greek in the inscriptions, and wholly disappears by the time of Alexius I. The chief gold piece was the solidus or nomisma, which was long famed in commerce for its pu- rity, and circulated largely in the west as well as the east of Europe. — Chambers.
II. Jeunsh Coinage. — The oldest extant Jewish coins are held by the best authorities to belong to the period of the Asmonaan princes. About the year B.C. 139 An- tiochus VII (Sidetes), the son of Demetrius I, granted to Simon Maccabeus, " the priest and prince of the Jews," the right of coining money. This was to be "with his own stamp," and to be current "in his own
Shekel of Simon Maccabeus.
NUMISMATICS
228
NUMISMATICS
country" — "/cai i7rfrpfi//a croi noiiiaai Kumin 'ictov v6- fiiaija ry X^p4 '^°^" (' ^la^c. xv. "2-9). Of this privi- lege Simon availed himself, and the shekel and half- shekel appeared in silver, and several pieces in copper. The shekel presents on the obverse the legend " Shekel of Israel :" a cup or chalice, above which appears to have been the date of the year of Simon's government in which it was struck. Keverse, "Jerusalem the Holy;" a triple lih' or hyacinth. It is generally believed that the devices on this coin are intended to represent the pot that held manna and Aaron's rod that budded. Of the first there could onlv be a traditional recollection ;
Half-shekel of Simon Maccabjeus.
and though Aaron's rod is said to have produced almond- blossoms, and the flower on the reverse of the shekel re- sembles rather the hyacinth than the almond-blossom, yet regard being had to Jewish feelings, and the proba- bility that the dies were engraved by Greek artists, it will seem safer to accept the common belief on the sub- ject than any other. The half- shekel resembles the shekel, and they occur with the dates of the tirst, second, third, and fourth year of Simon.
The copper pieces bear a different stamp. A coin has been found in copper of the type of the silver shekel, having the date of the fourth year of Simon ; but there seems to be every reason to believe that this was either plated or intended to be so, and therefore a counterfeit. The other copper coins known are parts of the copper shekel — the half, the quarter, and the sixth. The entire copper shekel has not been found. The half-shekel bears on the obverse the legend, "In the fourth year — one half;" two bunches of thickly leaved branches, between