Israel Numismatic Research

Published by the Israel Numismatic Society
 

Volume 3 2008
Contents

Contents
3 JAROSŁAW BODZEK: A Note on a Samarian Coin-Type
13 HAIM GITLER,MATTHEW PONTING and OREN TAL: Metallurgical Analysis of Southern Palestinian Coins of the Persian Period
29 JEAN-PHILIPPE FONTANILLE: Extreme Deterioration and Damage on Yehud Coin Dies
45 JEAN-PHILIPPE FONTANILLE and CATHARINE C. LORBER: Silver Yehud Coins with Greek or Pseudo-Greek Inscriptions
51 PERE PAU RIPOLLÈS: The X4 Hoard (Spain): Unveiling the Presence of Greek Coinages during the Second Punic War
65 GEORGES VOULGARIDIS: Some Thoughts on Mints, Monograms and Monetary Magistrates. Two Case Studies: the Mints of ‘Akko-Ptolemais and of Ascalon
under the Seleucids
81 OLIVER D. HOOVER: Ptolemaic Lead Coinage in Coele Syria (103–101 BCE) 87 DAVID HENDIN and ILAN SHACHAR: The Identity of YNTN on Hasmonean
Overstruck Coins and the Chronology of the Alexander Jannaeus Types
95 MOSHE FISCHER and ZVI GUR: The Coin Finds from Horbat Mazad
117 CECILIA MEIR: Tyrian Sheqels and Half Sheqels with Unpublished Dates from the ‘Isifya Hoard in the Kadman Numismatic Pavilion
125 ALLA KUSHNIR-STEIN: Reflection of Religious Sensitivities on Palestinian City Coinage
137 YEHOSHUA ZLOTNIK: Coin Finds and the Question of the Conquest of Jerusalem by Bar Kokhba
147 ZVI URI MA‘OZ: Ships on Roman Provincial Coins in the Southern Levant: Voyages on the River Styx
163 BRUNO CALLEGHER: A Provincial Weight from after the Monetary Reform of 538 CE
175 D. MICHAEL METCALF: Crusader Numismatics: How Immobilized Types are Classified, How Chronologies are Revised and Verified, and How Coins are Attributed to Their Mints
189 Review: Oliver Hoover, Coins of the Seleucid Empire from the Collection of Arthur Houghton, Part II. New York 2007 (Danny Syon)
192 Review: Bruno Callegher. Cafarnao IX. Monete dall’area urbana di Cafarnao (1968–2003). Jerusalem 2007; Cécile Morrisson, Vladislav Popoviæ † and Vujadin Ivaniševiæ, Les Trésors monétaires Byzantines des Balkans et d’Asie Mineure (491–713). Paris 2006 (Gabriela Bijovsky) 

3:  A Note on a Samarian Coin-Type

JAROSŁAW BODZEK

Abstract
The article focuses on a Samarian issue showing on the obverse a head in a tiara
(kyrbasia) and the forepart of a horse on the reverse (Meshorer and Qedar 1999:97, Nos.
75–76). The forerunner for the types under discussion must be sought among issues
produced by different Achemenid officials in northwestern Asia Minor (Mysia, Troas),
where coins of the same or similar types were relatively widespread in the fourth century
BCE. It is probable that the Samarian issuing authority consciously chose iconographic
types recalling the Achemenid aristocratic ethos with which the local community was
presumably familiar.
 

13:  Metallurgical Analysis of Southern Palestinian Coins of the Persian Period

HAIM GITLER, MATTHEW PONTING and OREN TAL

Abstract
By means of inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES),
metallurgical analyses of southern Palestinian coins of the Persian period were
performed. The main group of analyzed coins consists of dome-shaped quarter sheqels
(“drachms”), which were struck from worn, recut and repolished obverse dies that based
on their circulation were defined as Edomite. In addition, several Philistian coins were
analyzed as a reference group. Our results suggest that much of the silver bullion used for
striking the Edomite and Philistian coins originated in the Greek world, most probably
from Athenian ‘owls’ and that Edomite coinage was probably produced by a central
Philistian minting authority based on identical silver content.
 

29:  Extreme Deterioration and Damage on Yehud Coin Dies

JEAN-PHILIPPE FONTANILLE

Abstract
A significant proportion of Yehud coins was struck from dies that had been damaged one
way or another. The damage could have been caused by excessive wear, breaks or errors
during the striking process (clashed dies). The paper presents illustrations of all three
phenomena and discusses their implications.
 

45: Silver Yehud Coins with Greek or Pseudo-Greek Inscriptions

JEAN-PHILIPPE FONTANILLE and CATHARINE C. LORBER

Abstract
The authors report the discovery of a new class of Yehud coins that share the facing
head/owl types of TJC:199, Nos. 20–23, but are inscribed with Greek characters instead
of paleo-Hebrew or Aramaic.
 

51: The X4 Hoard (Spain): Unveiling the Presence of Greek Coinages during the Second Punic War

PERE PAU RIPOLLÈS

Abstract
A specific lot of Greek coins coming from one of the most important hoards buried in
Spain during the last or first decade of the third-second century BCE is described in detail.
Attention is drawn to their role in the economy of this time period, in which coins were
valued by users for their silver content. The Second Punic War war and related troop
movements fostered the spread of Greek coins far from their minting area on a scale not
previously seen.
 

65: Some Thoughts on Mints, Monograms and Monetary Magistrates. Two Case Studies: the Mints of ‘Akko-Ptolemais and of Ascalon under the Seleucids

GEORGES VOULGARIDIS

Abstract
Based on his experience in studying two important Seleucid mints in Palestine, ‘Akko-
Ptolemais and Ascalon, the author poses several questions about the monograms and the
symbols on Seleucid coins: Who is behind them? Why do they appear on the dies? What
information about the mints do they provide? No firm answers are given, but a discussion
is begun.
 

81: Ptolemaic Lead Coinage in Coele Syria (103–101 BCE)

OLIVER D. HOOVER

Abstract
Two lead series frequently found in the Transjordan and bearing the types of Zeus-
Ammon/eagle and Zeus/eagle are catalogued and discussed. On the basis of typology and
the inscription B–a it is argued that the lead issues imitate and evolved from a Ptolemaic
bronze coinage probably produced under Cleopatra III and Ptolemy X. On the basis of the
connection to the Ptolemaic bronze series, it is suggested that the lead series were struck
as a form of emergency money during the ‘War of Scepters’ (103–101 BCE), which
involved Ptolemaic troop movements in Transjordan and elsewhere in Coele Syria.
 

87: The Identity of YNTN on Hasmonean Overstruck Coins and the Chronology of the Alexander Jannaeus Types

DAVID HENDIN and ILAN SHACHAR
Abstract
A previously unpublished Hasmonean coin, which was overstruck twice, proves beyond
doubt that at least one group of coins bearing the name yntn must be attributed to Alexander
Jannaeus. This coin also contributes to establishing a definitive chronology for the
striking of the various Jannaeus types.
 

95: The Coin Finds from Horbat Mazad

MOSHE FISCHER and ZVI GUR

Abstract
Horbat Mazad lies on one of the Roman roads between Jerusalem and Jaffa, on the
segment connecting Abu Ghosh and Emmaus. A total of 116 coins were retrieved in
systematic excavations (1977–1980) at the site. The 88 coins dated to the Hellenistic and
Early Roman periods (second century BCE–first century CE) are presented and discussed
here. Most of the coins were found in rather accurate archaeological contexts, bestowing
upon them significantly greater value for numismatic research.
 

117: Tyrian Sheqels and Half Sheqels with Unpublished Dates from the ‘Isifya Hoard in the Kadman Numismatic Pavilion

CECILIA MEIR

Abstract
The history of the ‘Isfiya hoard consisting primarily of sheqels and half-sheqels of the
autonomous coinage of Tyre is summarized. Ten unrecorded dates deriving from the
Kadman Numismatic Pavilion holdings of the hoard are presented.
 

125: Reflection of Religious Sensitivities on Palestinian City Coinage

ALLA KUSHNIR-STEIN

Abstract
There can be little doubt that the early coinages of Neapolis, Sepphoris and Tiberias
reflected the religious sensitivities of the majority of their respective populations, both
Samaritans and Jews. This is true of the issues of the first century CE, but not of later
centuries. The change in iconography is usually explained by intervention of the emperor
Hadrian, who is assumed to have transferred the government of these cities from Jews and
Samaritans to pagans. This paper discusses the possibility of such measures having been
taken by Vespasian in the aftermath of the first Jewish revolt.
 

137: Coin Finds and the Question of the Conquest of Jerusalem by Bar Kokhba

YEHOSHUA ZLOTNIK

Abstract
Finds of Bar Kokhba coins in Jerusalem are often interpreted as negating the possibility of
the conquest of the city by Bar Kokhba rebels. They are said to be too few in number to
support the idea of such a conquest. However, when these finds are compared with the
finds of other contemporaneous coins discovered in Jerusalem, especially those of Aelia
Capitolina under Hadrian, a different picture emerges. The proportion of Bar Kokhba
coins among these finds does not appear to be negligible and accordingly, Bar Kokhba’s
conquest of Jerusalem may be considered a possibility.
 

147: Ships on Roman Provincial Coins in the Southern Levant: Voyages on the River Styx

ZVI URI MA‘OZ

Abstract
This paper suggests that some warships depicted on coins of southern Levantine coastal
mints, and surprisingly also some inland mints, owe their appearance to local myth. Greek
mythologies — and a Talmudic legend referring to a miraculous Argonaut trip from
Tiberias to Paneas—are adduced to reconstruct the netherworld course of the River Styx
as it flowed from Arabia to Sidon passing by the Yarmukh River and the towns of Gadara,
Tiberias and Paneas. It is possible that other war-ships on southern Levant coins have
mythological associations.
 

163: A Provincial Weight from after the Monetary Reform of 538 CE

BRUNO CALLEGHER

Abstract
Arectangular shaped copper object in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem has been identified
as a Byzantine one-ounce scale weight, or exagium, deriving from some city in the Syria-
Palestine area. It has not been possible, however, to establish whether it was used in the
retail trade or for checking coins. The bust of Justinian I depicted on the obverse of this
albeit rather crude exagium provides its definite terminus post quem of 538 CE.
 

175: Crusader Numismatics: How Immobilized Types are Classified, How Chronologies are Revised and Verified, and How Coins are Attributed to Their Mints

D. MICHAEL METCALF
Abstract
A large hoard of Crusader coins recently found in Syria, allegedly at Hârim, allows us to
re-examine the traditional chronology of the coins of the Crusader states (Antioch,
Tripoli, Jerusalem) in the second half of the twelfth century. The location of the mint or
mints in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem is discussed, with reference also to the gold
coinage.
 

189: Review: Oliver Hoover, Coins of the Seleucid Empire from the Collection of Arthur Houghton, Part II. New York 2007

(Danny Syon)
 

192 Review: Bruno Callegher. Cafarnao IX. Monete dall’area urbana di Cafarnao (1968–2003). Jerusalem 2007; Cécile Morrisson, Vladislav Popoviæ † and Vujadin Ivaniševiæ, Les Trésors monétaires Byzantines des Balkans et d’Asie
Mineure (491–713). Paris 2006

(Gabriela Bijovsky)