Classical Numismatic Group, LLC
Keystone Auction 9 18 Jan 2023
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ROMAN REPUBLICAN. A. Plautius. 55 BCE. AR Denarius (18mm, 3.54 g, 6h). Rome mint. Turreted head of Cybele right, wearing cruciform earring, hair in knot, locks falling down neck; AED • CVR • S • C downwards to left, A • PLAVTIVS downward to right / Bacchius kneeling right beside his camel, holding reins in left hand and extending olive branch upward in right; IVDAEVS upward to right, BACCHIVS in exergue. Hendin 6470 (this coin illustrated); Crawford 431/1; Sydenham 932; Plautia 13; RBW 1540. Minor porosity, a few scratches. VF.
From the David Hendin Collection, sold for the benefit of the American Numismatic Society.
I suggest that BACCHIVS IVDAEVS is not only half-playful, but tauntingly mean and mischievous as well. There are numerous suggestions that many Romans and Greeks believed the ancient Jewish religion to be a cult of Dionysus, the popular god of grapes and winemaking, feasting, drunken behavior, and ecstasy. Josephus does not discuss any aspects of Bacchus and the Jews, but he mentions that Herod I presented a golden vine to the Temple. It was used to hang donatives of golden grapes and vine leaves and the vine was said to be part of the booty taken to Rome by Titus. Among the important prayers in Judaism, both ancient and modern, are those prayers that call upon the monotheistic God to bless "the fruit of the vine."
Grapes were also one of the seven species listed in Deuteronomy 8:8 as special products of the ancient Land of Israel. The relationship the Greeks and Romans fantasized to exist between the Jews and Dionysus may also be related to the traditional mythology that Dionysus was the son of Semele, "who was the daughter of Cadmus, who, being a Phoenician, was a Semite who spoke a language closely akin to Hebrew." (GBC p. 367)
From the David Hendin Collection, sold for the benefit of the American Numismatic Society.
I suggest that BACCHIVS IVDAEVS is not only half-playful, but tauntingly mean and mischievous as well. There are numerous suggestions that many Romans and Greeks believed the ancient Jewish religion to be a cult of Dionysus, the popular god of grapes and winemaking, feasting, drunken behavior, and ecstasy. Josephus does not discuss any aspects of Bacchus and the Jews, but he mentions that Herod I presented a golden vine to the Temple. It was used to hang donatives of golden grapes and vine leaves and the vine was said to be part of the booty taken to Rome by Titus. Among the important prayers in Judaism, both ancient and modern, are those prayers that call upon the monotheistic God to bless "the fruit of the vine."
Grapes were also one of the seven species listed in Deuteronomy 8:8 as special products of the ancient Land of Israel. The relationship the Greeks and Romans fantasized to exist between the Jews and Dionysus may also be related to the traditional mythology that Dionysus was the son of Semele, "who was the daughter of Cadmus, who, being a Phoenician, was a Semite who spoke a language closely akin to Hebrew." (GBC p. 367)