Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Auction 114 13-14 May 2020
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JUDAEA, Herodians. Agrippa I, with Herod of Chalcis and Claudius. 37-43 CE. Æ (25.5mm, 14.81 g, 12h). Caesarea Maritima mint. Dated RY 8 of Agrippa (43/4 CE). Burnett, Coinage 8; Hendin 1248; Meshorer 124a; RPC I 4982; for c/m: Howgego 156. Dark green and reddish-brown patina, earthen deposits, some roughness and scratches. Fine. Rare and of great historical importance.
Agrippa I had a close relationship with both Gaius (Caligula) and Claudius, in part helping to secure the rule of the latter in the uncertain days following his unexpected rise to the purple. Indeed, his relationship with Claudius was so close that Josephus (Ant. xix. 5.1) records that among the new emperor's first acts was publishing an edict guaranteeing Agrippa's kingdom (with the title "Great King") and granting the territory of Chalcis to Agrippa's elder brother Herod.
This remarkable and rare issue not only explicitly refers to the alliance on the reverse, even using Agrippa's new title "Great King," but depicts the oath taking ceremony that occurred in the Roman Forum and is discussed in historical sources:
He also made a league with this Agrippa, confirmed by oaths, in the middle of the Forum in the city of Rome. (Josephus, Ant. xix.5.1)
He struck his treaties with foreign princes in the Forum, sacrificing a pig and reciting the ancient formula of the fetial priests. (Suetonius, Claud. 25.5)
For the extremely rare counterpart issue of Herod of Chalcis with a similar obverse, albeit with the position of the brothers switched, see Meshorer 361.
Agrippa I had a close relationship with both Gaius (Caligula) and Claudius, in part helping to secure the rule of the latter in the uncertain days following his unexpected rise to the purple. Indeed, his relationship with Claudius was so close that Josephus (Ant. xix. 5.1) records that among the new emperor's first acts was publishing an edict guaranteeing Agrippa's kingdom (with the title "Great King") and granting the territory of Chalcis to Agrippa's elder brother Herod.
This remarkable and rare issue not only explicitly refers to the alliance on the reverse, even using Agrippa's new title "Great King," but depicts the oath taking ceremony that occurred in the Roman Forum and is discussed in historical sources:
He also made a league with this Agrippa, confirmed by oaths, in the middle of the Forum in the city of Rome. (Josephus, Ant. xix.5.1)
He struck his treaties with foreign princes in the Forum, sacrificing a pig and reciting the ancient formula of the fetial priests. (Suetonius, Claud. 25.5)
For the extremely rare counterpart issue of Herod of Chalcis with a similar obverse, albeit with the position of the brothers switched, see Meshorer 361.