Roma Numismatics Ltd
Auction XIV 21 Sep 2017
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Byzantine Empire Æ Three Unciae Commercial Weight. Circa 5th-7th Century AD. Γ° Γ; menorah above, all within wreath divided by four annulets; circular border containing annulets / Blank. Cf. Bendall 116. 74.62g, 38mm, 9mm thick.
An attractive circular commercial weight with a pleasing patina. Recessed top, two grooves around the edge.
Engraved on this remarkable Jewish-Byzantine three-unciae official imperial weight, in the typical 'angular chisel' technique often favoured in this period, is with what Christians at the time would have considered a blasphemous image replacing the usual Christian Holy Cross. It was conceivably engraved at the time of the Byzantine-Sasanian War of 602-628 CE, when many disgruntled Jews sided against the Byzantines in the Jewish revolt against Heraclius, which successfully assisted the invading Persians led by Khosru II in conquering the Byzantine Empire's richest provinces in the Diocese of the East: Antioch in 611, Jerusalem in 614, Alexandria in 619 and the rest of Egypt by 621. Most of the Byzantine mints closed at this time, with the exception of that of the second city of the empire, Alexandria, which continued to produce imperial standard bronze coin denominations in the form of 12, 6, 3 and 1 nummi, without imperial titles, but with the characteristic Persian symbols of the sun and moon (cf. MIB 202, 211, 214 and 215).
Another possible period for this Jewish-Byzantine weight might be after the death of Muhammad in 632 and the rise of the first Caliph Abu Bakr, who set in motion a military expansion that in a few short decades overwhelmed the whole the Levant, starting with the province of Syria in 634, the Exarchate of Africa in 686 and Visigothic Spain by 712-716. The new Islamic authorities in Syria, North Africa and Spain continued the Byzantine monetary system by issuing what we call Arab-Byzantine coins, until they were gradually replaced by the Umayyad Post-Reform coinage starting in 696/7 (77H) with its own well recorded weights and measures (cf. G. Bernardi, 'Umayyad Caliphate Globular Coins' in Arabic Gold Coins I, Trieste 2010, pp. 101-104 and S. Album, Checklist of Islamic Coins, Santa Rosa 2011, 115-124). These Muslim invaders were seen as a liberating force by the long suffering Jewish population within the Christian empire. Eager to aid the Arab invaders in administering the newly conquered territories many towns and garrisons were left in the hands of the Jews while the invaders proceeded further west and north.
The destruction of the Second Temple by Titus in 70 CE and the subsequent triumphal procession in Rome was a momentous event celebrated by many coin issues over several years and the erection of a triumphal arch in the Forum. The renowned Arch of Titus depicts Roman soldiers carrying away the spoils of the Second Temple, in particular, the seven-branched menorah, or candelabrum. The menorah was then deposited in the temple of Pax, where it remained until it was looted by the Vandals in 455 and taken to their capital, Carthage. After the fall of Carthage in 533 to the Byzantine general Belisarius the menorah was removed to Constantinople and later sent to Jerusalem (Prociopius, Vandal Wars IV.9.5). There exists no record of it after this and it was probably destroyed when Jerusalem was sacked by the Sasanian Persians in 614, when the Holy Cross was carried off to Ctesiphon.
After the destruction of Jerusalem at the end of the Bar Kokhba War in 135, the menorah had become the iconic symbol of the Jewish Diaspora and the festival of Sukkot. In a religiously tolerant pagan Roman Empire the menorah image was placed prominently on signet rings, lamps, and amulets and even appears in the roundels of prestigious Roman gold glass cups, along with other Jewish symbols. With Constantine I the empire became Christian, and under the Theodosian Code of 404 Jews were excluded from certain governmental posts and by 425 all public offices, both civilian and military - a prohibition that was repeated under the Justinian Code of 545. Although the Justinian Code remained in force in the Eastern Empire until the ninth century, the period following Justinian's reign was generally characterised by tolerance of non-Christians, particularly the Jews. However, the Jewish revolt against Heraclius provoked severe anti-Jewish measures to be enacted throughout the empire and applied as far away as Byzantine North Africa, Merovingian France and Visigothic Spain, the alleged provenance of this weight.
The first Visigothic rulers of Spain were not much interested in the religious affairs of the kingdom until 506, when Alaric II (484–507) published his Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum, which adopted the laws Byzantium. Following the conversion of the Visigothic royal family under Recared from Arianism to Catholicism in 587, the situation became far worse for Jews, now subject to forced conversion, resulting in the utter embitterment and alienation of Spanish Catholic rule by the time of the Muslim invasion in 711. Under Muslim rule Jews experienced tolerance and integration and given the status of dhimmi, by which they remained second class citizens, but were accorded many rights and protections as a "people of the book'.
An attractive circular commercial weight with a pleasing patina. Recessed top, two grooves around the edge.
Engraved on this remarkable Jewish-Byzantine three-unciae official imperial weight, in the typical 'angular chisel' technique often favoured in this period, is with what Christians at the time would have considered a blasphemous image replacing the usual Christian Holy Cross. It was conceivably engraved at the time of the Byzantine-Sasanian War of 602-628 CE, when many disgruntled Jews sided against the Byzantines in the Jewish revolt against Heraclius, which successfully assisted the invading Persians led by Khosru II in conquering the Byzantine Empire's richest provinces in the Diocese of the East: Antioch in 611, Jerusalem in 614, Alexandria in 619 and the rest of Egypt by 621. Most of the Byzantine mints closed at this time, with the exception of that of the second city of the empire, Alexandria, which continued to produce imperial standard bronze coin denominations in the form of 12, 6, 3 and 1 nummi, without imperial titles, but with the characteristic Persian symbols of the sun and moon (cf. MIB 202, 211, 214 and 215).
Another possible period for this Jewish-Byzantine weight might be after the death of Muhammad in 632 and the rise of the first Caliph Abu Bakr, who set in motion a military expansion that in a few short decades overwhelmed the whole the Levant, starting with the province of Syria in 634, the Exarchate of Africa in 686 and Visigothic Spain by 712-716. The new Islamic authorities in Syria, North Africa and Spain continued the Byzantine monetary system by issuing what we call Arab-Byzantine coins, until they were gradually replaced by the Umayyad Post-Reform coinage starting in 696/7 (77H) with its own well recorded weights and measures (cf. G. Bernardi, 'Umayyad Caliphate Globular Coins' in Arabic Gold Coins I, Trieste 2010, pp. 101-104 and S. Album, Checklist of Islamic Coins, Santa Rosa 2011, 115-124). These Muslim invaders were seen as a liberating force by the long suffering Jewish population within the Christian empire. Eager to aid the Arab invaders in administering the newly conquered territories many towns and garrisons were left in the hands of the Jews while the invaders proceeded further west and north.
The destruction of the Second Temple by Titus in 70 CE and the subsequent triumphal procession in Rome was a momentous event celebrated by many coin issues over several years and the erection of a triumphal arch in the Forum. The renowned Arch of Titus depicts Roman soldiers carrying away the spoils of the Second Temple, in particular, the seven-branched menorah, or candelabrum. The menorah was then deposited in the temple of Pax, where it remained until it was looted by the Vandals in 455 and taken to their capital, Carthage. After the fall of Carthage in 533 to the Byzantine general Belisarius the menorah was removed to Constantinople and later sent to Jerusalem (Prociopius, Vandal Wars IV.9.5). There exists no record of it after this and it was probably destroyed when Jerusalem was sacked by the Sasanian Persians in 614, when the Holy Cross was carried off to Ctesiphon.
After the destruction of Jerusalem at the end of the Bar Kokhba War in 135, the menorah had become the iconic symbol of the Jewish Diaspora and the festival of Sukkot. In a religiously tolerant pagan Roman Empire the menorah image was placed prominently on signet rings, lamps, and amulets and even appears in the roundels of prestigious Roman gold glass cups, along with other Jewish symbols. With Constantine I the empire became Christian, and under the Theodosian Code of 404 Jews were excluded from certain governmental posts and by 425 all public offices, both civilian and military - a prohibition that was repeated under the Justinian Code of 545. Although the Justinian Code remained in force in the Eastern Empire until the ninth century, the period following Justinian's reign was generally characterised by tolerance of non-Christians, particularly the Jews. However, the Jewish revolt against Heraclius provoked severe anti-Jewish measures to be enacted throughout the empire and applied as far away as Byzantine North Africa, Merovingian France and Visigothic Spain, the alleged provenance of this weight.
The first Visigothic rulers of Spain were not much interested in the religious affairs of the kingdom until 506, when Alaric II (484–507) published his Breviarium Alaricianum or Lex Romana Visigothorum, which adopted the laws Byzantium. Following the conversion of the Visigothic royal family under Recared from Arianism to Catholicism in 587, the situation became far worse for Jews, now subject to forced conversion, resulting in the utter embitterment and alienation of Spanish Catholic rule by the time of the Muslim invasion in 711. Under Muslim rule Jews experienced tolerance and integration and given the status of dhimmi, by which they remained second class citizens, but were accorded many rights and protections as a "people of the book'.