Coin of Herod Agrippa I.
bear the name and titles of Agrippa on the reverse, with those of the reigning emperor surrounding his portrait on the obverse. Of this class we have pieces of Caligula and Claudius, and on a coin of the latter the Jewish king is represented as sacrificing at an altar to one or more heathen deities. Mr. Madden {Jewish Coinage, p. 110), who seems to doubt the attribution of the coin to Agrippa I, supposes the temple to be that of the god Mama at Gaza. If it be a coin of Herod Agrippa, both it and the act which it commemorates must have been in the highest degree distasteful to his Jewish subjects. Herod King of Chalcis. — A few small coins bearing the name of Herod the King written round a single cornu- copia, have been attributed to this prince by Cavedoni and Levy {Jikl. Miinzen, p. 82).
Agrippa II.^The king Agrippa of the Acts, from A.D. 48 to A.D. 100. We have one coin with a portrait of Agrippa II, and the title of king; it bears on the re- verse an anchor. This is assigned by :Mr. Madden to the year 58; and he adds {Jewish Coinage, p. 116),
" the right of strik- ing coins with his head must have been peremptorily put an end to, as in the next year and all future years his coins appear either with the symbolical head of the town at which they were struck, or with that of the reigning emperor." " Thus Agrippa II appears on the reverses of Nero, Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian ; and one coin corroborates the information of Joscphus {Ant. xx, 9, 4), that Agrippa changed the name of Ciiesarea Philippi to Neronias, in honor of Xero, from whom he had received considerable accessions of territory. Another coin is still more in- teresting. It is a small copper piece, bearing its name Xn^KovQ written round a dot on the obverse, and on the reverse an anchor with the date FT. K.K. year 26 (Ca-
Copper Coiu of Agrippa II.
Coin of Herod Agrippa II, with head of Xero.
vedoni, LeUore, i, 53). It seems probable, as this date corresponds with A.D. 78 — at which time the Temple was a heap of ruins — that this piece of money may have served for the offerings which the Jews were compelled to bring every Sabbath-day to the synagogue during the reign of Agrippa. Some of the reverses of Domitian which bear the name of Agrippa give the palm-tree, the galley, and the double cornucopia. These pieces termi- nate the coinage of the Idnmiean dynasty.
The next coins are those struck by the Roman procu- rators ; and it is remarkable that the Komans carefully abstained from introducing into the coinage intended for Judffia any symbols which might be offensive to the people. Those struck during the reign of Augustus are of two classes — the first, from the expulsion of Archelaus, A.D. 6 to A.D. 14, exhibit an ear of corn on the obverse, with the name KAI2AP02 : and on the reverse a palm- tree with the date of the year. Subsequent coins appear of another type — obverse, a cornucopia, KAI2AP02; reverse, an altar, 2EBA2T0Y (of Augustus). These are all of small size.
Under Tiberius some coins occur with the name of Julia, his mother — obverse, the name in a wreath : reverse, an ear of corn, or a triple lily like that on the ancient shekel, with the date of the year. Afterwards others were struck with the emperor's own name round a double cornucopia; reverse, the word KA12AP. in a wreath. Others with a vase, a vine-leaf, a palm-branch ; and some with a sacred vessel which Tiberius himself had presented to the Temple. But the most interesting of these coins are those struck by Pontius Pilate. They bear on the ob-
Copper Coin struck by Pontius Pilate.
verse the lituus, with the name of Tiberius Ctesar written round it, and on the reverse the date in a wreath. Tliis heathen s}'mbol, suggested, as Mr. Madden thinks likely {Jewish Coinage, p. 149), by the strong passion ;vliich Tiberius is known to have entertained for augurs and astrologers, comes with a peculiar appropriateness be- fore our eyes on the coinage of a procurator bj- whom our Lord was given over to be crucified.
Coins struck under Claudius bear on the obverse two palm-branches crossed ; reverse, the name of Julia Agrippina. Others with a palm-tree on the reverse commemorate on the obverse the names of Nero and Britannicus Ca3sar. These coins were struck by the procurator Claudius Felix, as are those also which bear the name of Nero in a wreath ; the obverse exhibiting a palm-branch, with the name Caesar and the date — the year 5, namely, from his association with Cumauus,
Coin of Felix.
Felix continued procurator till A.D. 55, when he was re- called ; and, as we learn from the Acts, Porcius Festus succeeded him. Next came Albinus, in A,D. 62, mid fi- nally Gessius Florus, in A.D. G5. Tacitus {Hist, v, 10)
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NUMISMATICS
states that this man's tyranny drove the Jews into open revolt. Of these last tliree procurators we have no coins. The revolt occasioned by the intolerable oppression of (lessius Florus established for a time an independent government at Jerusalem ; and Eleazar, the son of Ana- nias the high-priest, refused to offer sacrifices for the welfare of the Roman empire, massacred the Roman garrison, and remained for some time master of Jerusa- lem. This was in A.D. C(j. Eleazar struck silver coins bearing on the obverse a vase, with the words round it '• Eleazar the High-Priest ;" to the right of the vase a palm-branch ; reverse, a cluster of grapes, "First Year of the Redemption" of Israel. Others, of copper, bear the legend '• The Libert}' of Zion," and the date "Year Two."