Coins of the Bar Kokhba War The destruction of the Temple and sacking of Jerusalem in 70 CE did not completely annihilate Jewish resistance in Judaea. In 132 a rebellion broke out under the leadership of Simon Bar Kokhba. Dubbed the messiah by the highly regarded Rabbi Akiva, the authoritarian Bar Kokhba declared himself prince of the Jewish kingdom. The coinage made by the rebels in Bar Kokhba's name are a fascinating series. They were made during the exegeses of war, by a determined and defiant population with little resources. Not having access to basic means of making flans, the coins were over struck on the coins at hand, namely the Roman issues. The coins were struck in three sizes of bronze, and two sizes of silver., Effacing the hated Roman symbols, the rebel coins were struck with dies bearing Bar Kokhba's name on the obverse. The name is sometimes spelled with four Hebrew letters and sometimes with three. When spelled with three the letters read 'Shema” which is also the name of the central dogma of the Jewish faith, “”Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.” The words on both the obverse and the reverse are written in paleo-Hebrew the archaic language of much earlier, more glorious times. It is thought that Bar Kokhba insisted on the use of paleo-Hebrews to recall those days. On the reverse the letters spell out, variously, “For the redemption of Jerusalem,” “For the freedom of Zion” and other similar expressions. Coins struck during the first year of the rebellion are so marked, as are the coins of the second year. Coins which are undated are assumed to be from the third year, in which Bar Kokhba's men were crushed in a bloody last stand in Bethar. On the reverse, images reminiscent of the Temple which had been destroyed sixty years earlier are portrayed. The symbols include a schematic front view of the Temple, a narrow harp, a wide harp, a jug for performing the water ritual, a bunch of grapes, two trumpets, and lulav and etrog. The large silver coins were struck on the Roman tetradrachms. A tetradrachn thus struck was called a sela by the Judaeans. The smaller silver coins were struck on denarii, and called zuzim, plural for zuz. One sela was worth four zuzim. The term zuz is applied to the Bar Kokhba coins exclusively by some, but it is applied generally to Roman denarii in the Talmud. The word zuz in Hebrew means “it moved.” There are many interesting varieties of the obverse of the coins of silver and bronze.
Love the historical synopsis and I've always wanted to own one of those types for many years---the price or my budget or my constantly varying levels of focus always seem to put it in the category of 'next month'....but I'll get at least one sometime this year---or next LOL
I have three zuzim. I paid $887.50, $900, and $1,100 for them. There are plenty available in the $1,000 price range. But mine are AU-MS (NGC). I would bet you can get less expensive ones if you search hard enough or ask your favorite dealers. As far as I can tell there are six types of the denarii overstrikes; trumpets, grapes, jug, wide and narrow harp, and palm tree branch.
I'm glad you started this thread, Arturo. To supplement, I'll attach the coin of yours that you posted in another thread.
Thanks, John. This coin has grapes on the obverse and the silver trumpets on the reverse. We know it is the obverse because the "heads" has the first name of Shimon or Simon Bar Kokhba, self-styled "Prince of the Kingdom of Judaea." The name is abbreviated to read SHEMAH, shin-mem-ayin in paleo-Hebrew. This is described above in my initial post in the thread. The grapes, IMO, reference the golden grapevine in the (then destroyed) Temple. This was a structure, in gold, made of the offerings brought to the Temple. One could bring a bunch of golden grapes, a single grape, or even a tendril to hang on the grapevine. The trumpets were used in the temple service and to signal various events. They are actually mentioned in the Bible, in the Book of Numbers. Since I am new to ancients, and I like to show my coins at the Seder, where many children's hands are present, I like to get my coins slabbed. I know most collectors look down on slabbed ancients, but for me, for the coins above $300, it works. The coin above is graded MS 4/5 4/5 by NGC.
Thanks, Bing. While I was posting about the trumpets your post popped up. I didn't read it before I posted, but there it is. If you like, I will get the exact citation of the trumpets in Numbers, but I have to go AFK.
This is the type of coin I would want authenticated, whether by David Vagi and his crew at NGC, or David Sear, or an expert in Judaean coinage. Zuzim get faked pretty often, and you can't be too careful.
