Israel Numismatic Research
Published by the Israel Numismatic Society
Volume 7 2012
Contents:
3 Yoav Farhi and Yuval Gadot: Aegina in Jerusalem: A ‘Turtle’ Stater from
Southern Jerusalem.
7 Haim Gitler and Oren Tal: Some Notes on the Relative Chronology of the
Fifth- and Fourth-Century BCE Coinage of Philistia.
17 Catharine C. Lorber: A New Tetradrachm of Ptolemy VI Philometor from
Phoenicia.
25 Cecilia Meir: Tyrian Sheqels from the ‘Isfiya Hoard, Part Three: ‘Crude Style’.
31 Ido Noy: The Victory Wreath of Hyrcanus I.
43 Donald T. Ariel: Judean Perspectives of Ancient Mints and Minting
Technology.
81 Yehoshua Zlotnik: Were Jewish Coins Struck on Attached Strips of Flans?
93 Aaron J. Kogon: Countermarks on Small Judean Coins.
107 Oliver D. Hoover: More New Nabatean Lead Issues of Aretas IV.
115 Jean-Philippe Fontanille: Seven Burnt Coins of the Last Years of the First
Jewish Revolt.
127 Ronit Palistrant Shaick: Who is Standing Above the Lions in Ascalon?
147 Gabriela Bijovsky: A Byzantine Gold Hoard from Reḥob (Ḥ. Parwa).
159 Nikolaus Schindel: Countermarks on Umayyad Post-Reform Copper Coins.
167 Tony Goodwin: Medieval Islamic Copper-Alloy Money Weights from
Bilād al-Shām.
181 Ira Rezak: A Jewish Pseudo-Coin of Yehoshua Bin Nun, Ephrati.
191 REVIEW: Donald T. Ariel and Jean-Philippe Fontanille. The Coins of
Herod. A Modern Analysis and Die Classification. Leiden-Boston 2012.
(Achim Lichtenberger).
195 REVIEW: Oliver D. Hoover. Handbook of Syrian Coins. Royal and Civic
Issues. Fourth to First Centuries BC. Lancaster, Penn.-London 2009; Oliver
D. Hoover. Handbook of Coins of the Southern Levant. Phoenicia, Southern
Koile Syria (including Judaea), and Arabia. Fifth to First Centuries BC.
Lancaster, Penn.-London 2010. (Rachel Barkay).
198 Corrigendum
199 Abbreviations
Abstracts
Aegina in Jerusalem: A ‘Turtle’ Stater from Southern Jerusalem
Yoav Farhi and Yuval Gadot
This article presents a ‘Turtle’ stater of Aegina, recently found in an excavation in the southern
part of present-day Jerusalem. This is the first coin of its type to be discovered in controlled
archaeological excavations in Israel.
Some Notes on the Relative Chronology of the Fifth- and Fourth-Century BCE Coinage of Philistia
Haim Gitler and Oren Tal
This article reassesses the relative chronology of the fifth- and fourth-century-BCE Philistian
coins against the recent suggestion of an intermediate three-quarter profile eye phase in the
depiction of the eye of Athena on Athenian issues. The article also discusses a new coin type
that combines the Athenian-styled head of Athena on the obverse and the Aeginetan-styled
tortoise on the reverse.
A New Tetradrachm of Ptolemy VI Philometor from Phoenicia
Catharine C. Lorber
A single obverse die was used to strike irregular tetradrachms of Ptolemy VI and Alexander
Balas. This unusual die link attests to their alliance and to the similarity of their portraits.
An irregular didrachm of the Ptolemaic era coinage, issued in the name of Alexander, also
combines features from the coinages of these two kings.
Tyrian Sheqels from the ‘Isfiya Hoard, Part Three: ‘Crude Style’
Cecilia Meir
The paper presents 41 Tyrian sheqels of ‘crude style’ from the Kadman Numismatic Pavilion
holdings of the ‘Isfiya hoard.
The Victory Wreath of Hyrcanus I
Ido Noy
Wreaths, among the most common symbols on Jewish coins, appear on John Hyrcanus I’s first
coins. This iconographical study suggests that it symbolized victory, borrowing from some
Seleucid coin types. This meaning for the wreath seems to have been maintained throughout
two centuries of Jewish coinage.
Judean Perspectives of Ancient Mints and Minting Technology
Donald T. Ariel
A summary of artifactual evidence for ancient minting technology, focusing on the typology,
functionality and chronology of molds, yields the conclusion that covered molds were almost
exclusively devoted to the production of base-metal coins and flans. The detailed examination
of two roughly contemporary assemblages of stone connected-flan molds, from Paphos and
the southern Levant, explores their possible technological antecedents and their subsequent
disappearance. The connected-flan molds’ anomalously widespread distribution within their
locales raises questions of how and where the production of flans was conducted. For Judea,
the answers may also change perceptions of the nature of the Jerusalem mint.
Were Jewish Coins Struck on Attached Strips of Flans?
Yehoshua Zlotnik
The procedures by which, in the Hellenistic-Early Roman Jerusalem mint, flans were struck
— whether before or after they were separated from their casting strips –– are discussed. The
range of different procedures joins other indications of the erratic quality of production at the
mint.
Countermarks on Small Judean Coins
Aaron J. Kogon
This paper describes new research related to countermarks struck on Judean prutot. The author
discusses the coins, the countermark types and styles, the countermark types’ relationships to
the coin types, their relative quantities, their locations on the coins, die statistics and other new
information.
More New Nabatean Lead Issues of Aretas IV
Oliver D. Hoover
Two new Nabatean lead issues of Aretas IV featuring divine attributes (club of Heracles and
Isis headdress) are presented. While the specimens featuring the club suggest the iconographic
influence of Tyre, those with the Isis headdress indicate Egyptian influence. It is suggested that
the Isis headdress of the lead issues and other Nabatean coins may indicate the existence of
Nabatean royal cult modeled on that of the Ptolemaic dynasty.
Seven Burnt Coins of the Last Years of the First Jewish Revolt
Jean-Philippe Fontanille
In volume 4 of this journal, Gabriela Bijovsky (2009) devoted an article to two hoards of coins
from the first Jewish revolt that were exposed to the fire that destroyed Jerusalem and the
Second Temple in the summer of 70 CE (Josephus, BJ 6:94–408). This article presents seven
other remarkable burnt coins struck in the fourth and fifth years of the first Jewish revolt, now
found in private collections.
Who is Standing Above the Lions in Ascalon?
Ronit Palistrant Shaick
An Egyptian deity standing above three lions is depicted in several variants on Ascalonian
Roman provincial coins, from Antoninus Pius onwards. The only parallel to this unique
appearance is on gems. The image, usually identified as Osiris or Isis, should be interpreted as
the Roman-Egyptian Horus-Harpocrates. His syncretic depiction as a young solar-and-fertility
god, as well as a defender of seafarers, fits well a seaside city like Ascalon, which very likely
also erected a statue of him. His cultic ritual, in his aspect as a solar god, could have merged
with Apollo’s, whose temple stood in the city.
A Byzantine Gold Hoard from Reḥob (Ḥ. Parwa)
Gabriela Bijovsky
A hoard of 28 seventh-century solidi was accidentally discovered in 1968 a few meters south
of the synagogue of Reḥob (Ḥ. Parwa). The hoard was first published by Paltiel in 1968–1969;
only ten of the coins are registered at the IAA Coin Department. Although a stray find, this
hoard cannot be disconnected from a hoard of copper Arab-Byzantine coins discovered during
excavations in the synagogue itself. The two hoards are contemporaneous and their deposition
dates should therefore be related to the same historical context.
Countermarks on Umayyad Post-Reform Copper Coins
Nikolaus Schindel
This article addresses a group of early Islamic countermarks mainly found on Umayyad
post-reform copper coins. The basic form is the Greek letter A. While several minor variants
exist, it is proposed here that they all mean the same, namely A, the Greek numeral for ‘one.’
Consequently, the countermarks were used to denote the value — as one fals — on the coins
to which they were applied. A possible clue to distinguishing Dimashq and Ḥims issues among
the earliest, post-reform fulūs with no mint indication is also discussed.
Medieval Islamic Copper-Alloy Money Weights from Bilād al-Shām
Tony Goodwin
Medieval Islamic copper-alloy money weights are often misunderstood and have been
neglected by excavators. The widely scattered literature on the subject is reviewed and a
number of inscribed weights published for the first time. The evidence suggests that the vast
majority of the surviving weights are from the Fatimid period.
A Jewish Pseudo-Coin of Yehoshua Bin Nun, Ephrati
Ira Rezak
An apparently unique bronze pseudo-coin, likely of the seventeenth century, which implicitly
references the prophet Joshua (Yehoshua bin Nun, Ephrati) is the subject of this article. A line
drawing of the type, possibly of this very coin, was published in Vilna in 1828 by Levinsohn, a
scholarly Hebraist who had seen and drawn the coin in a private Polish collection several years
earlier; the drawing was re-published in 1913 by Raffaeli in Jerusalem. It is suggested that the
coin may have been issued in support of then-current messianic expectations, specifically of
a Messiah, son of Joseph.
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