But the Jews continued their rebellions, and in the reign of Hadrian a war broke out under the leadership of the celebrated Simon Barcochab (the son of a star). Of this leader we have, it appears, a curious and inter- esting series of coins, and they are the last ever struck b}' the Jews as an independent people. Till recently many of them, if not all, have been attributed to Simon the son of (iioras, whose money has already been noticed ; but the fact that many are struck on Roman denarii of Trajan affords a proof not to be gainsaid that they be- long to the later chief. They display the same types as the coins of the earlier revolt. Obverse, " Simon," ■within a wreath. Reverse, the pitcher and palm- branch ; " The Deliverance of Jerusalem" struck on a denarius of Vespasian, the legend of which is partly legible. Others of the same type exhibit traces of the legends of Titus, Domitian, and Trajan. Another type — " Simon," round a cluster of grapes ; reverse,
Ilalf-.-'hekel of Simon Barcochab.
"The Deliverance of Jerusalem," round a three-stringed lyre. Another type — " Simon," as before ; reverse, " The Deliverance of Jerusalem," round two trumpets. Another type — " Simon," within a wreath; reverse, " Second Year of the Deliverance of Jerusalem," a palm- branch. Another has — obverse, the cluster; reverse, the palm-branch. These all seem to have been re- struck upon Roman denarii. A remarkable and verj' interesting coin appears also to belong to Simon Bar- cochab. It is a shekel, and may be thus described : Obverse, "Simon," on the sides of a tetrastyle temple — above, a star ; reverse, " The Deliverance of Jerusalem," the lulnh and ethrofj. Another has the date of the sec- ond j-ear. These coins have been attributed to Simon
Shekel of Simon Barcochab.
the son of Gioras ; but they bear traces of being stnicTC on coins of Vespasian, and the presence of the star above the temple seems to point them out as belonging to Bar- cochab. There is also a copper coin struck on a piece of Trajan, and identifiable in like manner: obverse, " Simon," on either side of a palm-tree ; reverse, " The Deliverance of Jerusalem ;" a vine-leaf. — Fairbairn.
III. Christian Coinage. — That with which we are specially concerned is the numismatics of the first cen- turies of our aira, or prior to mediaeval times. Strictly this ought to begin with Constantino the Great, be- cause from his time the adoption of the Christian relig- ion was recognised on the coins of the empire ; but there are some anterior circumstances which scientifi- cally prepared the way for this feature.
1. Christian Numismatics before- Constantine. — Three signs of Christianity have been noted by numismatists on the medals prior to the period in question : nameh-, the monograph of Christ, the representation of the del- uge, and the formula " in pace." "We will briefly reca- pitulate three leading facts relating to each in this con- nection.
a. A medallion with the effigy of Trajan -Decius, struck at Moenia, in Lydia, presents this very curious peculiarity, that at the top of the reverse, which repre- sents Bacchus in a car drawn by two panthers, the let- ters X and P of the Greek word APX, which made part of the legend, are found combined in such a manner as exactly to form the monogram of Christ, ■^.
b. We have now to speak of certain medals of Apa- raea, in Phrygia, of the efHgy of Septimius Severus, and of Macrerius and Philip his father, which bear on the reverse a double scene, usually referred to the deluge. On these medals we discover, first in the ark, and after- wards out of it, the figures of a man and a woman, which were formerly regarded as those of Deucalion and Pyr- rha; but the two birds in the same connection, and espe- cially the dove with the olive-branch, are foreign to the story of the son of Prometheus. It still remains a diffi- culty to explain the relation of the Jewish tradition with the heathen city of Asia Minor, and with the early Church (Eckhel, Doctrin. Num. iii, 137). Its oc- currence in the Catacombs of Rome is probably to be explained as a symbol of salvation by the Gospel "ark of safety." See Noah's Ark.
Early Christian Device.
c. Finally, there remains a bronze denarius of the empress Salonina, wife of Gallienus, on the reverse of which is read the altogether unusual legend, ".1 ugusta in pace" encircling the empress, seated, on the left, and holding in one hand a branch of olive, and a sceptre in the other. Hence the presumption has arisen that Sa- lonina was a Christian.
2. Christian Numismatics of Constantine the Great.^ A careful consideration of these coins leads to the fol- lowing general conclusions, namely, that while his ad- versaries and competitors survived, this emperor toler- ated (in his medals the images ot the pagan deities, which, in fact, often occur; but that from the time that, by the defeat of Licinius in 3'23, he became master of the Roman world, he excluded them altogether, substi- tuting the commemorative types of his own military
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exploits and civil enterprises, and probably already some Christian symbols; and that when he at length founded a new metropolis of the empire, he freely placed upon his coins, and on those of his sons the Ctesars, either the monogram of Christ or other signs appropri- ate to the true religion. See Cavedoni, Ricerche me- duglie di Constantino (Jlodena, 1858) ; Feuardent. Essai sur les Medailles de Cunstantiu (Paris, 1858) ; Garucci, Nnmismatica Constantiniana (Home, 1858). This last savant thus classifies the coins of this period :