Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Keystone Auction 9 18 Jan 2023
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JUDAEA. John Hyrcanus I. 135-104 BCE. Æ Prutah (14mm, 2.22 g, 12h). Jerusalem mint. "Yehohanan the High Priest and head of the Council of the Jews" (wedge-style paleo-Hebrew) within wreath / Two cornucopias splayed outward, adorned with ribbons; pomegranate/poppy between; monogram to lower right. Hendin 6168; TJC I 1-17; Sofaer 148. Brown surfaces, obverse is slightly off-center. Near VF.
From the David Hendin Collection, sold for the benefit of the American Numismatic Society.
Rising to power in the shadow of the withering Seleukid Empire, the Hasmonean dynasty began roughly twenty years after the Revolt of the Maccabees. Led by Mattathias the Hasmonean, an elder faith leader from the village of Modiin, and his five sons, the revolt spawned out of a furious rejection of Hellenistic values forcefully imposed on the Jewish ways of life by the Seleukids. Raising a small army in response to the Seleukid king, Antiochos IV Epiphanes, sending troops to oversee religious conversion in Modiin, Mattathias waged war against the empire. Eventually the movement was passed along to his son, the legendary Judah "The Maccabee" - his name possibly derived from the Aramaic maqqaba meaning "The Hammer". A gifted general proficient in guerilla tactics, Judah defeated the Seleukid army of Apollonios, and liberated Jerusalem and its Temple in 164 BCE. His victory was met with such rejoicing that the Temple was rededicated for eight days in a grand festival that would endure each year through the millennia - the Jewish tradition of Chanukah. Fighting continued for several years, ultimately ending in a treaty between Judah and Lysias, the viceroy of Antiochus IV. As David Hendin writes, "Freedom of worship was once again guaranteed, and Jerusalem was recognized as the religious capital of the Jewish nation."
Established by Judah's brother, Simon Thassi, the Hasmonean dynasty lasted from roughly 140 BCE to 37 BCE, and during its prominence it facilitated the expansion and full independence of Judaea. Temporarily unhindered by military obligations, Simon's Judaea was bustling and prosperous - even garnering the support of the Seleukid-hating Roman Senate in 139 BCE. Much of Hasmonean rule, otherwise, was marred by civil conflict. Judean-Seleukid struggle would also continue on and off for years until the Seleucids were finally relegated to obscurity by their own hand, torn asunder by civil war of their own. The dynasty would again be threatened with the rise of Pompey the Great in Rome, who would eventually lead the Roman Republic to conquer Judaea in 63 BCE, turning the province into a tributary state.
The coinage produced during this time was some of the most important in the history of Judaea, as the first Jewish dynastic coinage ever struck. The lily, the ancient symbol of Jerusalem and of rebirth, supplanted on early coinage the traditional position of the Seleukid king on the obverse, marking Jewish religious independence.
From the David Hendin Collection, sold for the benefit of the American Numismatic Society.
Rising to power in the shadow of the withering Seleukid Empire, the Hasmonean dynasty began roughly twenty years after the Revolt of the Maccabees. Led by Mattathias the Hasmonean, an elder faith leader from the village of Modiin, and his five sons, the revolt spawned out of a furious rejection of Hellenistic values forcefully imposed on the Jewish ways of life by the Seleukids. Raising a small army in response to the Seleukid king, Antiochos IV Epiphanes, sending troops to oversee religious conversion in Modiin, Mattathias waged war against the empire. Eventually the movement was passed along to his son, the legendary Judah "The Maccabee" - his name possibly derived from the Aramaic maqqaba meaning "The Hammer". A gifted general proficient in guerilla tactics, Judah defeated the Seleukid army of Apollonios, and liberated Jerusalem and its Temple in 164 BCE. His victory was met with such rejoicing that the Temple was rededicated for eight days in a grand festival that would endure each year through the millennia - the Jewish tradition of Chanukah. Fighting continued for several years, ultimately ending in a treaty between Judah and Lysias, the viceroy of Antiochus IV. As David Hendin writes, "Freedom of worship was once again guaranteed, and Jerusalem was recognized as the religious capital of the Jewish nation."
Established by Judah's brother, Simon Thassi, the Hasmonean dynasty lasted from roughly 140 BCE to 37 BCE, and during its prominence it facilitated the expansion and full independence of Judaea. Temporarily unhindered by military obligations, Simon's Judaea was bustling and prosperous - even garnering the support of the Seleukid-hating Roman Senate in 139 BCE. Much of Hasmonean rule, otherwise, was marred by civil conflict. Judean-Seleukid struggle would also continue on and off for years until the Seleucids were finally relegated to obscurity by their own hand, torn asunder by civil war of their own. The dynasty would again be threatened with the rise of Pompey the Great in Rome, who would eventually lead the Roman Republic to conquer Judaea in 63 BCE, turning the province into a tributary state.
The coinage produced during this time was some of the most important in the history of Judaea, as the first Jewish dynastic coinage ever struck. The lily, the ancient symbol of Jerusalem and of rebirth, supplanted on early coinage the traditional position of the Seleukid king on the obverse, marking Jewish religious independence.