Israel Numismatic Research

Published by the Israel Numismatic Society
 

Volume 4 2009
 

 

5 Editors’ Note

9 evangeline markou: Some Cypriot Gold Coins?

21 haim gitler and oren tal: More Evidence on the Collective Mint of Philistia

39 yigal ronen: On the Chronology of the Yehud Falcon Coins

47 nicholas l. wright: Two New Imitative Issues from the Fifth Syrian War (202–198 BCE)

51 oliver d. hoover: A New Hellenistic Lead Issue from the Southern Levant

57 david hendin: A Medallion of Agrippa II

63 cecilia meir: Tyrian Sheqels from the ‘Isfiya Hoard, Part One

73 gabriela bijovsky: A Burning Testimony: Two Bronze Hoards from the Time of the First Jewish Revolt

83 gary m. fine: Coins of Bar Kokhba: The Temple Water-Drawing Ceremony and the Holiday of Sukkot

94 alla kushnir-stein: Coins of Tiberias with Asclepius and Hygieia and the Question of the City’s Colonial Status

109 lionel holland: An Unusual Lead Weight of 22 grammata

113 wolfgang schulze: The Byzantine ‘Eagle’ countermark – Re-attributed from Egypt to Palestine

121 david j. wasserstein: Islamic Coins and their Catalogues III: The Ikhshidids

135 robert kool and warren c. schultz: The Copper Coins of the Mamlūk Sultan al-Malik al-Manṣūr Lājīn (r. AH 696–698/1297–1299 CE)

145 ariel berman: A Hoard from the First World War from the Area of Beer Sheva

159 neryahu a. shneydor: The Inscriptions on Modern Palestinian and Israeli Currency

173 review: C. Foss, Arab-Byzantine Coins. An Introduction, with a catalogue of the Dumbarton Oaks collection. Washington, D.C. 2008. (Bruno Callegher) 

 

9:  Some Cypriot Gold Coins?

Evangeline Markou

Abstract
For quite a long time the attribution of gold coins, dated to the fourth century BCE and with the
types of a horse and a ram, was disputed between Cyprus and Cyrenaica because numismatic
evidence could assign them to either region. The purpose of this paper is to discuss these
coins and to examine the iconography, the weight standard and the coin legend. Although the
legend is obscure and the weight of the coins can apply to both areas’ weight standards, the
iconography does not support the attribution of the coins among the issues of the kings of the
Cyprus and favors Cyrenaica.

21: More Evidence on the Collective Mint of Philistia

Haim Gitler and Oren Tal

Abstract
This article discusses several matters relating to the likelihood that the coinage of Philistia
was struck in a collective mint. Links of Ashdodan and Gazan epigraphic dies with
anepigraphic dies of Philistian coins are considered, as are the sociopolitical implications
of these links against the coinage’s circulation, weight standard, axes, metallurgical
analysis and the predominance use of the archaic eye motif in the coins. The number
of coins struck from the same pair or several pairs of dies, and coins known in single
specimens, are tabulated in an appendix.

39: On the Chronology of the Yehud Falcon Coins

Yigal Ronen

Abstract 
A falcon appears on the reverse of seven distinct Yehud coins. The coins with the king’s head
obverse belong to the gera denominational system and coins with the lily and incense bowl
belong to the obol system. The first type may therefore be Persian in date, and the others
seem to be Macedonian-Hellenistic in date. A uniface (unstruck obverse) type may also be
Persian, while the ear, shofar and cornucopia types — arguably Jewish symbols like the lily
and incense bowl — may be later. The one cornucopia/falcon Yehud coin appears to be an
unrecorded quarter obol.

47: Two New Imitative Issues from the Fifth Syrian War (202–198 BCE)

Nicholas L. Wright

Abstract
Two new barbarous imitations of a Seleucid bronze issue struck by Antiochus III during
the fifth Syrian war (202–198 BCE) are presented. The phenomenon of bronze imitations
in Coele Syria in this period is discussed.

51: A New Hellenistic Lead Issue from the Southern Levant

Oliver D. Hoover

Abstract
Two new barbarous imitations of a Seleucid bronze issue struck by Antiochus III during
the fifth Syrian war (202–198 BCE) are presented. The phenomenon of bronze imitations
in Coele Syria in this period is discussed.

57: A Medallion of Agrippa II

David Hendin

Abstract
A previously unpublished medallion of Agrippa II, dated ‘Year 26’, seems to have been the
prototype of a smaller coin with confronted busts of Titus and Domitian dated the following
year (TJC: No. 168). This medallion, with enhanced portraits and legends, was apparently the
first coin struck in Agrippa II’s Flavian mint at Caesarea-Paneas. The portraits on this coin,
as well as on other coins of Agrippa II struck at Caesarea-Paneas, can best be explained by
applying the era of 49 CE to them.

63: Tyrian Sheqels from the ‘Isfiya Hoard, Part One

Cecilia Meir

Abstract
The paper is first in a series of publications that aim at producing a full report on the part of
the ‘Isfiya hoard kept in the Kadman Numismatic Pavilion, Eretz-Israel Museum. The current
publication presents the first 107 Tyrian sheqels of regular style with readable dates.

73: A Burning Testimony: Two Bronze Hoards from the Time of the First Jewish Revolt

Gabriela Bijovsky

Abstract
Two assemblages of burnt coins dated to the end of the first Jewish revolt, were discovered
in the Temple Mount excavations of Benjamin Mazar in Jerusalem. The coins provide a vivid
evidence of the destruction of the city by fire in 70 CE.

83: Coins of Bar Kokhba: The Temple Water-Drawing Ceremony and the Holiday of Sukkot

Gary M. Fine

Abstract
It is generally acknowledged that many of the Bar Kokhba coins, and those of the fourth
year of the first Jewish revolt, depict types directly relating to the Sukkot festival. It appears,
however, that all Bar Kokhba coin types may suggest this holiday. Further, as a group, these
types may have more specifically referred to the Water-Drawing Ceremony, celebrated at the
Jerusalem Temple on that holiday.

94:  Coins of Tiberias with Asclepius and Hygieia and the Question of the City’s Colonial Status

Alla Kushnir-Stein

Abstract
The paper discusses a coin type minted by Tiberias in the third century CE. The letters COL,
allegedly testifying to the status of colony, have been read on its reverse. It has also been
suggested that the type appears under both Caracalla and Elagabalus. Recently discovered
specimens demonstrate, however, that both the reading and suggestion are erroneous. The
reverse legend does not contain COL and the series was struck under one emperor only. The
date, ‘Year 200’, read on several specimens, has implications for the still unsolved problem of
the exact year of the foundation of Tiberias.

109: An Unusual Lead Weight of 22 grammata

Lionel Holland

Abstract
A lead weight of mass 25.7 g with the denomination “22 grammata” scratched in Greek on
one face was found in Northern Israel. It is suggested that the weight may have been part of a
doctor’s or apothecary’s equipment, and could have been used for compounding a medicine,
which called for that particular weight of one ingredient. The historical and metrological
arguments for such a hypothesis are discussed.

113: The Byzantine ‘Eagle’ countermark – Re-attributed from Egypt to Palestine

Wolfgang Schulze

Abstract
During the turbulent years of the Arab conquest of Syria in the 30s of the seventh century CE,
a series of Byzantine countermarks was in use. One of them, the ‘eagle’ countermark, has been
attributed for a long time to Egypt and may now be re-attributed to Palestine on the basis of
new evidence. This countermark may have been applied on old and worn Byzantine coins in
order to revalue them during the siege of Caesarea (637–640 CE).

121: Islamic Coins and their Catalogues III: The Ikhshidids

David J. Wasserstein

Abstract
Jere Bacharach’s book is a first attempt to provide a corpus of all known coins of the Ikhshidids,
who ruled Egypt more or less independently of the ‘Abbasids of Baghdad between c. 935 and
969 CE, when it was taken over by the Fatimids. The inscriptions on these coins, struck at a
number of mints, are a valuable guide especially to the changes in the relationship between
these rulers and their nominal overlords in Baghdad. The corpus is described and, with the
addition of a table, used to demonstrate the thinness of our numismatic knowledge of this
dynasty.

135: The Copper Coins of the Mamlūk Sultan al-Malik al-Mansūr Lājīn (r. AH 696–698/1297–1299 CE)

Robert Kool and Warren C. Schultz

Abstract
The typology of the copper coinage of the Mamlūk sultan Lājīn is modified in the light of the
discovery of a new type and the rediscovery of a forgotten type. Archaeologically derived
numismatic data is examined to raise questions about the origin of these coins and their
circulation.

145: A Hoard from the First World War from the Area of Beer Sheva

Ariel Berman

Abstract
A considerable amount of gold and billon (debased silver) coins, lost probably on October 31,
1917 during or just after the fighting on the Beer Sheva front, reflects a random cross-section
of the various currencies kept at that moment, apparently by a Turkish officer.

159: The Inscriptions on Modern Palestinian and Israeli Currency

Neryahu A. Shneydor

Abstract
The paper deals with the legends on coinage and banknotes of Palestine (1927–1947) and
Israel (1948–2009). Mandatory Palestinian currency was conservative but not flawless. In the
first 15years of independence, Israeli currency was immature. One of the issues treated here is
the comparative usage of the two official languages (Hebrew and Arabic) and the ex-official
one, English. In the years that followed, the currency’s evolution was rather smooth, although
spotted by some curious decisions on matters of wording, presentation of dates, numerals and
transliterations.

173 REVIEW: C. Foss, Arab-Byzantine Coins. An Introduction, with a catalogue of the Dumbarton Oaks collection. Washington, D.C. 2008.

(Bruno Callegher)