ANCIENT JEWISH COINS- THE GREAT REVOLT

In 66 AD the jews of palestine revolted against the Roman occupation. Soon, the war raged across the land and the belief in the return of the Mesiah spread among the people. consequently,this belief found its way to the coins minted in the early years of the revolt. slogans like: "Jerusalem the Holy" and "to the Freedom of Zion" were engraved on the coins minted by the Jewish authorities.

Before we are describing the coins minted in the revolt, we shall separate them into two groups.

The first group of coins are the silver coins, the Sheqel and half Sheqel. the sheqel was the "big money" of that time. but it had also other uses. half-Sheqel coins were mainly used as the temple tribute, which every jewish male had to give to the temple in jerusalem every year.
here are some examples of Year One prototypes.

Sheqel
Half Sheqel
quarter Sheqel
prutah

The second group is the bronze coins. The most common coins of this group are the Prutahs, espeacially those of the second year of the war.

Here are examples of year 2 and 3 Protahs of the war.


Year two protah
Year three Protah


Towards the end of the revolt, in the fourth and fifth year of the war, there was a shortage of silver. As a result the jews now minted their quarters as large bronze coins, inscribed :"quarters of Sheqel, year four"

Here are half, quarter and eighth of a Sheqel from those years minted in bronze

Year four coins
Half Sheqel
Quarter Sheqel
Eighth Sheqel


In 70 AD Jerusalem was conquered and the temple was destroyed. After this year there aren't known Jewish coinage that is related to the revolt. The last stronghold to fall was Massadah, which was cuptured in the year 73 AD. Following the victory over Judiah, the Romans minted coins inscribed " Judiah Capta " which commemorated the fall of the jewish state. The Jewish people stopped minting coins for another 70 years, and with the Bar Cochva the Jewish coinage minting was at its last cllimax. In that period the most diverse coin types were strock.



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