Caracalla Tetradrachm from Aelia Capitolina

Roman coinage from Aelia Capitolina has an interesting history. Hadrian's visit to the ruins in Jerusalem in 130 CE led to the founding of Aelia Capitolina. Hadrian planed on turning Jerusalem into a Hellenistic city and wanted to erase any trace of the Jews who were considered barbarians. Their religious sacrifices and practice of circumcision were especially heinous to Hadrian. When the construction of a temple dedicated to Jupiter was planed on the site of the destroyed 2nd temple that King Herod had built, Jews were enraged. The Bar Kochba rebellion ensued, 132-135 CE, and ended in a disaster for the Jews. All Jews were banned from the city and a program to populate the city with Roman military veterans and their families began. Jews were allowed to return to Aelia Capitolina only one day a year for a special religious ceremony. Pictured below is a very rare commemorative foundation coin issued by Hadrian.


Hadrian, 117-138 CE (struck circa 130 CE), Aelia Capitolina Mint. AE 25 mm, 10.7 gm. Obverse: Hadrian draped and facing right, seen from behind. Reverse: Hadrian ploughing a boundary with an ox and cow, military standard in the background. This coin is in a private collection.

Aelia Capitolina coinage was minted by 15 different Roman emperors and finally ended with Gallienus. The 1st silver coins were minted by Caracalla to help fund his proposed war with the Persian Empire, 215-217 CE, about 37% pure silver, usually referred to as billon. The coin pictured below is a very rare dynastic issue by Septimius Severus.


Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem). Septimius Severus, with Julia Domna, Caracalla, and Geta, 193-211 CE. AE 30 mm, 23.16 gm, 12 h. Cf. Meshorer, Aelia 81. Ex Dr. Patrick Tan Collection. CNG Coin shop 503622, sold for $2250.

The coin pictured below is the 1st coin I won at CNG Triton XXV, lot 696. The coin was misattributed by CNG, much to my advantage as Prieur 1626 , however, it turned out to be a rare unlisted variant with the reverse of Prieur 1627. Apparently I wasn't the only one to notice CNG's error, since the coin sold for nearly three times the estimate of $500 in spirited bidding .


Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem). Caracalla, 198-217 CE (struck 215-217). Billon Tetradrachm: 12.39 gm, 27.15 mm, 12 h. Prieur 1626/1627 variant. Same obverse die as Prieur's plate coin 1626, Caracalla laureate and draped facing right, seen from the front. The reverse has the shortened inscription like Prieur's 1627, eagle standing on thyrsus facing, head to left with wreath in his beak, amphora between legs. Rare. Ex Kenneth S. Abramowitz Collection.

Reference: The Syro-Phoenician Tetradrachms and Their Fractions, from 57 BC to AD 253. Michel and Karen Prieur. Copyright 2000. Published by CNG Inc.

CT members are welcome to post coins from Aelia Capitolina, or anything relevant to this thread .

 

Log in or Sign up to hide this ad.

Very informative and interesting write-up, @Al Kowsky! I wish I had a coin of this city to share.

 

Great post @Al Kowsky - I think I have but one to share, though I am not completely sure of the identification (if anybody can improve on my guesswork, please share). It came my way in a big batch of ancients via the generosity of @tenbobbit in 2020 -


Elagabalus Æ 23
(c. 218-222 A.D.)
Judea, Aelia Capitolina
[IMP] C M A ANTONIN[VS] radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / COL AEL CAP
in ex., temple, Tyche-Astarte standing left, holding small bust & scepter; two figures of Nike between columns.
(8.26 grams / 23 mm)
@tenbobbit Jan. 2020
Attribution Note: This type usually has reverse legend around temple; this one
has it in the exergue. Only example I found like this was: Agora Auction Lot 53-103. cf. Kadman 31; cf. Meshorer, Aelia 53; cf. Sofaer 123.
Noted as "Unpublished in standard references"

 

Aelia was the name by which the Arabs knew the city. The mint signature on the reverse of this late 7th century Umayyad fals is بايليا قلسطين (bi-Ailia Filistin, "of Aelia in Palestine"). Image courtesy Leu Numismatik.

 

Thank you for posting! My set is no match in quality but still pretty nice:

 

I find these Ailiya fulus fascinating. First, the name of the city: ايليا فلستين , Ailiya Filastin... This is the Latin name Aelia Palaestinae, or Greek Αἰλία Παλαιστίνης. Where did they unearth this old Roman official name, at a time when the Byzantine Empire called the city Hierosolyma?

We can read Hierosolyma in Greek on dated inscriptions from the Middle East. Heraclius re-opened the city mint and there were folles with mint-mark IЄPOCOL like this one (#notmycoin):



They also called the city "Hagia polis", as we can read on the 6th c. Madaba Mosaic Map : Η ΑΓΙΑ ΠΟΛΙC ΙЄΡΟΥCΑ[ΛEM], "the Holy City Jerusalem".

In the 7th c. it seems that, at first, this city was not that much "holy" for the Muslims, they just called her by her Roman official pagan name. It is true that the name of Jerusalem is never mentioned in the Quran. But a religious evolution soon occurred, and the Umayyad caliphs built there the Dome of the Rock and the mosque nearby that was soon to be known as al-Aqsa. And the Muslims ceased to use the "Ailiya Filastin" name, they used "Hagia polis" instead, in Arabic "al-Quds".

Now, the obverse. It is interpreted as a figure of the standing caliph (which one, we don't know). But the legend surrounding him is "Muhammad rasulillah": "Muhammad God's Prophet". Anybody who had such a coin in hand would naively suppose that, on a coin obverse, there is a direct link between the image of a person and the legend surrounding it, and that the standing man is Muhammed.

Was it the case? Did the earliest Muslims think that Muhammed's image was not more a taboo than Jesus' image for the Melkite Christians? These "Ailiya Filastin" fulus are an extraordinary document on the first Islam, when islamic sunni orthodoxy was not fixed yet.

 

Exceptionnal find @Al Kowsky, I wish I were able to posting something similar...

Q

 

Unless you can read the exergue or reverse legend, it is very difficult to attribute these c.20 mm bronze coins with a Tychaion reverse to a city in particular. Many cities under Elagabalus minted coins with this same reverse, with or without statues between columns. This one can be of Aelia Capitolina, it is a likely hypothesis, but not 100% sure (it can be from Caesarea, or Antipatris, for example).

 

Mike, GinoLR makes a good point, without a better reverse image your coin will be difficult to attribute with certainty . Pictured below is a coin from the CNG Coin Archives that has similarities to your bronze.

Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem). Elagabalus, AD 218-222. AE 25.5 mm, 10.71 gm, 12 h. Meshorer, Aelia 125c. CNG 437, lot 364.

 

dltsrq, It has also been proposed by a number of historians that the name Aelia Capitolina was derived from Hadrian's name: Publius Aelius Hadrianus.

 

Factor, Thanks for posting these three important coins ! Most of the dynastic issues I've seen are poor strikes in rough condition. Your "Foundation" bronze is an excellent example, & the Caracalla Tet is a great example .

 

Gino, The name "Hagia polis" is interesting, & the possible use of Muhammed's image on coins by the early Arabs is an idea worthy of entertaining, despite the fact it is forbidden in the Koran.

 

Are you sure it is? Since 622 there have been many images in Islamic art, including images of the Prophet. Presently the Sunni orthodoxy is that any depiction of Muhammad is strictly forbidden, but Shiites don't seem to think it is such a taboo, and in the Middle Ages there were illustrations in manuscripts showing the Prophet. I don't think the Koran clearly forbids it.

 

Thank you for your input on my coin, @Al Kowsky and @GinoLR I'd agree with you that it is never going to be a "fer sure" attribution. "Judaea-Middle East-North Africa-not-Europe" might be the best way to describe it!

Here is the Agora auction that made me guess the way I did:



Lot 53-103. Judaea, Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem). Elagabalus. A.D. 218-222. AE 24. Judaea, Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem). Elagabalus. A.D. 218-222. AE 24 (23.8 mm, 9.77 g, 7 h). IMP C M A ANTONINVS (or similar), radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / COL AEL CAP, tetrastyle temple with central arch, within: Tyche-Astarte standing left, with right foot on uncertain object, holding small bust in extended right hand, scepter in left. Between columns; two figures of Nike. cf. Kadman 31; cf. Meshorer, Aelia 53; cf. Sofaer 123. aFine, red patina.
Unpublished in standard references
https://agoraauctions.com/listing/viewdetail/28321/0/archive


Here's mine again -

 

Geno, I did a Google search & you are correct . Nothing in the Koran expressly forbids images of Muhammad, & many antique drawings & paintings of him exist mostly from Shiite populations. Modern fatwas of the Sunni faith forbid images of him. In Sunni mosques there are no human images allowed, as the link below explains.
Why Islam forbids images of Mohammed | CNN

 

This coin is not at all of Jerusalem, it is a coin of Caesarea Maritima, Sofaer Caesarea 52. Your coin could be the same one!

 

Thank you for that! My reliance on auctions found online sometimes leads me astray. Attribution will be updated, pronto!

I found Sofaer 52 in a CNG auction via an acsearch - I even had the wrong emperor - Caracalla, not Elagabalus:


JUDAEA, Caesarea Maritima. Caracalla. 198-217 CE. Æ (24mm, 11.18 g, 7h). Radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Tetrastyle temple, containing Tyche statue left, with parazonium, bust, and foot on prow; half-length figure of river-god to right; figures to left and right in outer intercolumniations.
Kadman, Caesarea 67; Rosenberger 52; SNG ANS –; Sofaer 52.
Near VF, brown patina, strike somewhat uneven.
https://www.acsearch.info/search.html?id=3318409

My new and improved attribution (thank you @GinoLR and CNG):

Caracalla Æ 23
(c. 198-217 A.D.)
Judea, Caesarea Maritima
[IMP?] C M A ANTONIN[VS] radiate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / [COL (?)] CA[ES]in ex., temple, [Tyche standing left, holding bust & parazonium two figures between columns, river god right].
(8.26 grams / 23 mm)
@tenbobbit Jan. 2020
Attribution Note: "This coin is not at all of Jerusalem, it is a coin of Caesarea Maritima, Sofaer Caesarea 52. Your coin could be the same one!"
@GinoRL on CT Feb. 2022
Referencing mis-described Agora auction (for Aelia Capitolina):
https://agoraauctions.com/listing/viewdetail/28321/0/archive

 

Yes. That's correct. I wasn't implying that the Arabs invented the name, only that they carried on with it. The name is found on a number of Umayyad bronzes. The epithet al-Quds (القدس, "The Holy"), mentioned above, is found on a single 'Abbasid issue dated AH 219 (AD 834). Al-Quds can be read on the coin below at 8h in the reverse margin. Image courtesy Wikimedia.

 

Indeed, some researchers even draw parallels between this name and 'kdusha' on the Jewish War shekels. Interestingly, the city was rather an administrative center for nearly two centuries under Arab rule, and this coin is the first indication that it started to play an important religious role.

 

The Christians already called Jerusalem in Greek "Η ΑΓΙΑ ΠΟΛΙC ΙЄΡΟΥCΑ[ΛEM]" (the Holy City Jerusalem) in the 6th c, as you can see on this schematic city-plan from a 6th c. mosaic in Madaba (Jordan).



If the Christians said "Holy city" in Greek, it is very likely that there was an equivalent in Aramaic, the everyday language people spoke in the street. The Muslim conquerors first did not use the Christian name, but later adopted it in Arabic. This must be linked with the building of the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan in 692.