I found lots of ancient coins while in Spain for 5 years over 30 some years ago. Quite a few of them I sold when I fell on hard times and some I still have. This one in particular has always been in my junk coin pile and I have always wondered about it but could never figure it out. Well today I finally figured out what it is and am very pleased. Ancient Judaea, Valerius Gratus - Roman Prefect under Tiberius 15-26 AD, AE prutah. Obv: IOYLIA, Vine leaf and small bunch of grapes Rev: Narrow-necked amphora with scroll handles, date L-D across fields. Meshorer 326; Hendin 643; RPC I 4963. Valerius Gratus is the Roman Prefect to The Roman Province of Judea from 15-26 AD. The following Roman Prefect after Him was Pontius Pilate 26–36 AD, this was during the persecution and death of Jesus Christ. Judea was turned into a Roman province, during which time the Roman procurator was given authority to punish by execution. The general population also began to be taxed by Rome. The province of Judea was the scene of unrest at its founding in 6 AD during the Census of Quirinius, the Crucifixion of Jesus circa 30-33 AD, and several wars, known as the Jewish–Roman wars, were fought in its history. The Second Temple of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD as part of the First Jewish–Roman War, resulting in the institution of the Fiscus Judaicus, and after the Bar Kokhba revolt (132–135), the Roman Emperor Hadrian changed the name of the province to Syria Palaestina and Jerusalem to Aelia Capitolina, which certain scholars conclude was an attempt to remove the relationship of the Jewish people to the region. The first intervention of Rome in the region dates from 63 BC, following the end of the Third Mithridatic War, when Rome made a province of Syria. After the defeat of Mithridates VI of Pontus, Pompey (Pompey the Great) sacked Jerusalem and established Hasmonean prince Hyrcanus II as Ethnarch and High Priest, but he was denied the title of King. A later appointment by Julius Caesar was Antipater the Idumaean, also known as Antipas, as the first Roman Procurator. Herod the Great, Antipater's son, was designated "King of the Jews" by the Roman Senate in 40 BC but he did not gain military control until 37 BC. During his reign the last representatives of the Hasmoneans were eliminated, and the great port of Caesarea Maritima was built. He died in 4 BC, and his kingdom was divided among three of his sons, two of whom (Philip and Herod Antipas) becoming tetrarchs ("rulers of a quarter part"), and one of whom (Archelaus) becoming an ethnarch who ruled over half of his father's kingdom. One of these principalities was Judea, corresponding to the territory of the historic Judea, plus Samaria and Idumea. Herod's son Archelaus ruled Judea so badly that he was dismissed in 6 AD by the Roman emperor Augustus, after an appeal from his own population. Herod Antipas, ruled as tetrarch of Galilee and Perea from 4 BC to 39 AD, being then dismissed by Caligula.
