A "priestly" prutah of Alexander Jannaeus

Judaea. AE prutah. Alexander Jannaeus (Yehonatan) (103- 76 BCE). Obverse: Wreath with 5-line Hebrew inscription "YeHoNATaN Ha-KoHeN Ha-GaDoL VeHeBeR Ha-YeHuDYM" (Yehonatan the High Priest and the Council of the Jews). Reverse: Crossed cornucopiae with pomegranate between. Hendin 6181. This coin: Frank S. Robinson Auction 130, lot 102 (January 18, 2026).

Alexander Jannaeus was a son of the founder of the Hasmonean dynasty, John Hyrcanus I (134-104 BCE) and brother of Judah Aristobulus I (104-103 BCE). Like his brother, Alexander Jannaeus used both the temporal title of King and the religious title of High Priest. Alexander, as his use of a Greek name in addition to his Hebrew name of Yehonatan implies, was rather Hellenized and favored the Sadducees over the more religiously conservative Pharisee faction. His brother had died childless, so he married his brother's widow (a so-called Levirate marriage, which was expected under Jewish law at the time) and bore two sons, who would later get into a civil war after his death. Alexander fought a number of battles against his more powerful neighbors of Ptolemaic Egypt, the Nabataeans, and the Seleucid Kingdom, as well as a six-year civil war starting around 95 BCE. He added territory to the Jewish kingdom including Gaza and Gilead. One incident that led up to the civil was in 96 BCE illustrates his character. In his role as high priest, Alexander was officiating at the Temple ceremonies for Sukkot (the Feast of Tabernacles) and, upset at the Pharisees, refused to do part of the ceremony correctly, pouring water onto his feet and the ground instead of the altar as he was supposed to. This angered the attending crowd, who pelted him with fruits (citrons, which were used in the ceremony) and began yelling that he was not fit to be high priest. Alexander ordered in his troops, who killed 6,000 people. This completely avoidable tragedy, on what should have been a holy day, tells all you need to know about the man. Later in his reign Alexander became ill from the effects of heavy drinking, and also possibly malaria. He died in 76 BCE, leaving the throne to his widow, who appointed his older son (later to also become king as John Hyrcanus II) as high priest.

Alexander Jannaeus struck several different types of bronze coins, with inscriptions in Greek, Aramaic, and/or Hebrew. Most of these types refer to him as King; this type, with Hebrew legend in four or five lines, is the only one to name him as High Priest and to also name-check the "Council of the Jews", the Sanhedrin. This may be interpreted as an attempt to appeal to the conservative Pharisees, who disliked Hellenism and what they perceived as laxness in following traditional Jewish law. Interestingly, Hendin points out that the Hebrew letters on these coins are often poorly-engraved or contain spelling errors. Hebrew script was transitioning from paleo-Hebrew (used on these coins) to the more Aramaic-derived script still used today, and the coin engravers may have been unfamiliar with the older letter-forms. I purchased this coin for the interesting history behind it, and because the inscription on this specimen is very clear. At $38 final bid, it was also quite reasonably priced. Please post your coins of Alexander Jannaeus, or the Hasmonean dynasty, or whatever else is related.