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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Kentucky, post: 2290667, member: 33176&quot;]This is from an e-bay seller:</p><p><b>HASMONEAN DYNASTY 140 - 37 B.C.</b></p><p>&nbsp; The <b>Hasmonean (Maccabeean) Dynasty</b> occurred during the years from the Maccabean Revolt in 140 B. C. to Mattathias Antigonus&#039;s beheading by <u>Marc Antony</u> in 37 B.C.&nbsp; At that time <u>Herod</u> was installed by the Romans as the new king of Judaea and surrounding areas.&nbsp; Brothers Simon and Judas Maccabee and Antigonus are seen as heroes in Jewish history as they all fought fierce struggles against Seluecid and Roman occupiers, respectively.</p><p><b>Alexander Jannaeus, King of Judaea</b></p><p>There are two distinctive different yet similar coins referred to as “widow’s mites”.&nbsp; These are the larger prutot and the smaller lepton minted under Alexander Jannaeus, King and High Priest of Israel from 103-76 BC. The Roman Procurators of the Province of Judea minted them.&nbsp;&nbsp; Alexander struck coins with a Seleucid anchor on the obverse and a star-saped wheel on the reverse often surrounded by diadem, Hebrew inscription “Yehonatan the king” between the rays.</p><p>The ANCHOR: The anchor was adopted from the Seleucids, who used it to symbolize their naval strength. Anchors are depicted upside down, as they would be seen hung on the side of a boat ready for use.</p><p>The STAR (Wheel): The star or star with diadem symbolizes heaven. Some prutah mites stars look more like wheels, and there is some debate as to whether that was meant to be a wheel or a star.</p><p><b>Widow’s Mites – Lepton and Prutah</b></p><p><font size="6"><b>Prutah means, “a coin of smaller value”.&nbsp; A prutah was a copper Jewish coin worth about one thousandth of a pound.&nbsp; A loaf of bread at that time was worth about 10 prutot (Plural of prutah).&nbsp; One Prutah was worth two lepta (singular lepton), which was the smallest denomination minted by the kings of the Hasmonean and Herodian Dynasties. Many think that the lepton (Greek Λεπτον) wasthe coin used by the poor widow referred to in scripture, known today as a &quot;Widow&#039;s Mite&quot;.</b></font></p><p><font size="6"><b>Lepton and prutah were carelessly and crudely struck, usually off center and on small flans. Because they circulated for a long period, they are usually very worn. Legends are almost always unreadable. The actual size of a prutah is less than 1/2 inch in diameter. A lepton is usually about the same diameter as a pencil eraser. </b></font>[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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