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Judaea, The Jewish War. Silver Shekel (13.30 g), 66-70 CE. Year 5 (April-Augustus 70 CE). 'Shekel of Israel' around, 'year 5' above, ritual chalice with pearled rim. Reverse: 'Jerusalem the holy', sprig of three pomegranates. Hendin 1370; Deutsch 1 ((O1, R1), Deutsch's recent die study traces a mere 14 known year 5 shekels (not counting the "Baldwin" specimens); TJC 215. Extremely Rare and of great importance. Tied for the finest known. Lustrous and excellent metal. Mint State. Value $200,000 - UP
The fifth year of the Jewish Revolt was a complete nightmare for both the Jewish rebels and the citizens of Jerusalem. On April 14, AD 70, Titus, the son of Vespasian, invested the Holy City with his legions and allied forces, thereby beginning a siege that would last for four months, three weeks, and four days. By May, his forces had breached the Third and Second Walls of Jerusalem, essentially leaving only the Temple Mount in the control of the Jewish rebels. Although the Jewish rebels initially managed to repel Roman assaults, the highly pressurized situation soon deteriorated as the rebel leaders-most of whom had been rivals from the start of the revolt-began to fight among themselves. John of Gischala assassinated the Zealot leader Eleazar ben Simon and additional conflict between John and Simon bar Giora was only prevented by the discovery that Roman engineers were constructing ramparts against the walls with the intention of breaking through with battering rams.Faced with this new and very serious problem, the Jewish rebels took the unprecedented step of burning the dry food supplies in Jerusalem, apparently thinking that desperation would improve the fighting spirit of the defenders or hoping that it would call down divine intervention. It did neither. Instead, it sped the populace down the road to starvation. Under regular circumstances, the destruction of the food supplies would have spelled disaster for any besieged city, but in the case of Jerusalem the situation was made vastly worse by the fact that the siege had begun only a few days before the feast of Passover. Therefore, the regular population of the city was swelled by Jews who had come into the city from the Judean countryside and from abroad for the celebration of this important festival (more than a million people according to Josephus). Now all of the people were crammed within the wall surrounding the Temple Mount and facing starvation. The severity of the hunger experienced by those within the wall is reported by Josephus-an eyewitness to the siege-who describes people eating shoe leather and animals forbidden by the Jewish Law, as well as incidents of cannibalism. As the horror mounted in the rebel-held section of the city, the Romans continued the work of breaching the wall. The battering rams had little effect, and therefore several attempts were made to seize the Fortress Antonia, which overlooked the Temple precinct. The open assaults were repulsed by the defenders, but in early July Roman forces entered the fortress under cover of darkness and overpowered the sleeping rebel guards. Once Antonia was in Roman hands there could be little doubt that the Jewish Revolt was utterly doomed and Jerusalem could not be saved. From the superior position of the fortress, the Temple wall was set on fire. It was captured and destroyed in late August-a catastrophic event still commemorated by the Jewish fast day of Tisha B'Av. At last, on September 9, AD 70, the siege was over and Jerusalem was completely under Roman control. Titus is said to have lamented the destruction of the Temple as he had hoped to enlarge the original structure and reconsecrate it as a temple dedicated to the imperial cult and the gods of Rome. It is difficult to know what would have happened if he had actually made good on this supposed plan. When Hadrian actually did refound Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina as a pagan cult center in AD 132 it sparked a new Jewish revolt under Simon bar Kokhba. Many thousands, if not the million reported by Josephus, were killed over the course of the siege through starvation, factional civil war, and the final Roman assault. Some 97,000 who survived were sold into slavery. Some of these were subsequently condemned to die as gladiators in bloody shows put on in the major cities of Roman Syria while others were taken to Rome to adorn the triumph of Vespasian and Titus before being put to work building the Colosseum-a monument to Roman victory entirely paid for by the spoils taken from Jerusalem. These included sacred items like the great seven-branched candelabra and the showbread table, both of which had previously been seen only by officiating Jewish priests but now appeared openly in the triumphal procession. Their display is commemorated by a famous panel on the Arch of Titus in Rome. John of Gischala and Simon bar Giora were captured alive and forced to march behind Titus' triumphal chariot. At the end of the triumph John was imprisoned for the remainder of his life while Simon was immediately executed. Both seem to have got off easy in comparison to the long suffering and miserable deaths meted out to their active followers and to those whose greatest crime was that they had the misfortune to be in Jerusalem on the day that it was besieged. The Jewish shekel of year 5 is simultaneously an extremely rare document of and a memorial to the horrific final year of the Jewish Revolt and the siege of Jerusalem. It carries the same types of a chalice (probably the Omer Cup used in Temple ritual) and pomegranate buds (a Jewish priestly symbol) found on shekels and half-shekels of previous years, but features an irregular engraving style that has also been noted for issues of year 1 and year 4. The coin was most likely struck in the Jerusalem Temple precinct using silver obtained from the Tyrian silver shekels and half shekels that had long been collected as annual tribute from adult male Jews throughout Judaea and the Diaspora. In year 5, with Jerusalem besieged, there can have been no other source of bullion. Interestingly, the Tyrian coins were apparently melted down and cast into new blanks for the Jewish Revolt issues since there is no evidence of overstriking. When silver coins were produced later to support the Bar Kokhba Revolt (AD 132-136) the new types were commonly overstruck on Roman Provincial issues. Despite the desperate straits that the Jewish rebels found themselves in in AD 70, they still seem to have taken greater care about the production standards of their coinage than their counterparts in the second century. The great rarity and deep historical interest of the year 5 shekel really make it the crown jewel for any Jewish coin collection.
The fifth year of the Jewish Revolt was a complete nightmare for both the Jewish rebels and the citizens of Jerusalem. On April 14, AD 70, Titus, the son of Vespasian, invested the Holy City with his legions and allied forces, thereby beginning a siege that would last for four months, three weeks, and four days. By May, his forces had breached the Third and Second Walls of Jerusalem, essentially leaving only the Temple Mount in the control of the Jewish rebels. Although the Jewish rebels initially managed to repel Roman assaults, the highly pressurized situation soon deteriorated as the rebel leaders-most of whom had been rivals from the start of the revolt-began to fight among themselves. John of Gischala assassinated the Zealot leader Eleazar ben Simon and additional conflict between John and Simon bar Giora was only prevented by the discovery that Roman engineers were constructing ramparts against the walls with the intention of breaking through with battering rams.Faced with this new and very serious problem, the Jewish rebels took the unprecedented step of burning the dry food supplies in Jerusalem, apparently thinking that desperation would improve the fighting spirit of the defenders or hoping that it would call down divine intervention. It did neither. Instead, it sped the populace down the road to starvation. Under regular circumstances, the destruction of the food supplies would have spelled disaster for any besieged city, but in the case of Jerusalem the situation was made vastly worse by the fact that the siege had begun only a few days before the feast of Passover. Therefore, the regular population of the city was swelled by Jews who had come into the city from the Judean countryside and from abroad for the celebration of this important festival (more than a million people according to Josephus). Now all of the people were crammed within the wall surrounding the Temple Mount and facing starvation. The severity of the hunger experienced by those within the wall is reported by Josephus-an eyewitness to the siege-who describes people eating shoe leather and animals forbidden by the Jewish Law, as well as incidents of cannibalism. As the horror mounted in the rebel-held section of the city, the Romans continued the work of breaching the wall. The battering rams had little effect, and therefore several attempts were made to seize the Fortress Antonia, which overlooked the Temple precinct. The open assaults were repulsed by the defenders, but in early July Roman forces entered the fortress under cover of darkness and overpowered the sleeping rebel guards. Once Antonia was in Roman hands there could be little doubt that the Jewish Revolt was utterly doomed and Jerusalem could not be saved. From the superior position of the fortress, the Temple wall was set on fire. It was captured and destroyed in late August-a catastrophic event still commemorated by the Jewish fast day of Tisha B'Av. At last, on September 9, AD 70, the siege was over and Jerusalem was completely under Roman control. Titus is said to have lamented the destruction of the Temple as he had hoped to enlarge the original structure and reconsecrate it as a temple dedicated to the imperial cult and the gods of Rome. It is difficult to know what would have happened if he had actually made good on this supposed plan. When Hadrian actually did refound Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina as a pagan cult center in AD 132 it sparked a new Jewish revolt under Simon bar Kokhba. Many thousands, if not the million reported by Josephus, were killed over the course of the siege through starvation, factional civil war, and the final Roman assault. Some 97,000 who survived were sold into slavery. Some of these were subsequently condemned to die as gladiators in bloody shows put on in the major cities of Roman Syria while others were taken to Rome to adorn the triumph of Vespasian and Titus before being put to work building the Colosseum-a monument to Roman victory entirely paid for by the spoils taken from Jerusalem. These included sacred items like the great seven-branched candelabra and the showbread table, both of which had previously been seen only by officiating Jewish priests but now appeared openly in the triumphal procession. Their display is commemorated by a famous panel on the Arch of Titus in Rome. John of Gischala and Simon bar Giora were captured alive and forced to march behind Titus' triumphal chariot. At the end of the triumph John was imprisoned for the remainder of his life while Simon was immediately executed. Both seem to have got off easy in comparison to the long suffering and miserable deaths meted out to their active followers and to those whose greatest crime was that they had the misfortune to be in Jerusalem on the day that it was besieged. The Jewish shekel of year 5 is simultaneously an extremely rare document of and a memorial to the horrific final year of the Jewish Revolt and the siege of Jerusalem. It carries the same types of a chalice (probably the Omer Cup used in Temple ritual) and pomegranate buds (a Jewish priestly symbol) found on shekels and half-shekels of previous years, but features an irregular engraving style that has also been noted for issues of year 1 and year 4. The coin was most likely struck in the Jerusalem Temple precinct using silver obtained from the Tyrian silver shekels and half shekels that had long been collected as annual tribute from adult male Jews throughout Judaea and the Diaspora. In year 5, with Jerusalem besieged, there can have been no other source of bullion. Interestingly, the Tyrian coins were apparently melted down and cast into new blanks for the Jewish Revolt issues since there is no evidence of overstriking. When silver coins were produced later to support the Bar Kokhba Revolt (AD 132-136) the new types were commonly overstruck on Roman Provincial issues. Despite the desperate straits that the Jewish rebels found themselves in in AD 70, they still seem to have taken greater care about the production standards of their coinage than their counterparts in the second century. The great rarity and deep historical interest of the year 5 shekel really make it the crown jewel for any Jewish coin collection.