Ira and Larry Goldberg Auctioneers
Auction 98 6-7 Jun 2017
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Judaea Capta Coinage. Æ Sestertius (22.69 g), AD 69-79. Judaea Capta type. Rome, AD 71. IMP CAES VESPASIAN AVG P M TR P P P COS [III], laureate head of Vespasian righ. Reverse: IVDAEA CAPTA, S C in exergue, palm tree; to left, bound captive standing right before pile of arms; to right, Judaea seated right in attitude of mourning. RIC 159; Hendin 1500; BN 490; BMC 533. Dark green patina. Excellent details but smoothing in the fields noted; nevertheless, a handsome example. Sharpness of Extremely Fine. Estimate Value $5,000 - 7,500
In the 'Judaea Capta' coinage, the seated personified Judaea evokes the iconographic language of the defeated and degraded prisoner. The conquered province type has its own set of gestures expressing a mournful or abject context, which are derived from Roman funerary iconography. They include an attitude formed by the resting of the chin in the hand, a pose that evokes pensiveness, uncertainty, and grief with overtones of repentance or lamentation. Additionally, the mourner is shown with hunched shoulders, and a bowed and covered head. The depiction of the personified province recollects the Biblical description of the besieged Jerusalem by the prophet Isaiah (ca. 700 BCE): "For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen… Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she, being desolate, shall sit upon the ground" (Isaiah 3:8-9; 25-26).
In the 'Judaea Capta' coinage, the seated personified Judaea evokes the iconographic language of the defeated and degraded prisoner. The conquered province type has its own set of gestures expressing a mournful or abject context, which are derived from Roman funerary iconography. They include an attitude formed by the resting of the chin in the hand, a pose that evokes pensiveness, uncertainty, and grief with overtones of repentance or lamentation. Additionally, the mourner is shown with hunched shoulders, and a bowed and covered head. The depiction of the personified province recollects the Biblical description of the besieged Jerusalem by the prophet Isaiah (ca. 700 BCE): "For Jerusalem is ruined, and Judah is fallen… Thy men shall fall by the sword and thy mighty in the war. And her gates shall lament and mourn, and she, being desolate, shall sit upon the ground" (Isaiah 3:8-9; 25-26).