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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;David Atherton, post: 3783302, member: 82616&quot;]A little postscript regarding the palm tree depicted on most &#039;Judaea Capta&#039; coins.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1010373[/ATTACH]</p><p>Roman mint masters often chose the most recognisable export of a particular region to allegorically represent it on the coinage. The date palm for centuries had traditionally been the symbol of Judaea, perhaps because this was the first region where Greek and Roman travellers met it when proceeding southward. Tacitus particularly notes the importance of Judaea&#039;s palms (<i>Hist</i>. v, 6). The Jews themselves in post-Biblical days often used the palm as a symbol of the land on their own coinage. When it came time for the Flavian mint masters to represent the conquest Judaea there was no better choice for their coin designs than the date palm. The palm symbolising the land and a weeping Jewess the people were powerful images of conquest. Probably the starkest example of this motif shows up on an early denarius struck just after the fall of Jerusalem depicting a bound Jewess sitting beneath a palm. It is much rarer than the traditional &#039;Judaea Capta&#039; denarius with a trophy.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1010381[/ATTACH]</p><p><b>Vespasian</b></p><p>AR Denarius, 2.71g</p><p>Rome Mint, 69-70 AD</p><p>Obv: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r.</p><p>Rev: IVDAEA in ex.; Jewess (as type of Judaea), draped and veiled, seated r. on ground, head inclined downwards, l. knee drawn up, hand bound behind back and fastened to palm-tree</p><p>RIC 4 (R). BMC 43. RSC 229. BNC -.</p><p>Acquired from Zuzim Judaea, May 2012.</p><p><br /></p><p>And another struck at Lyon depicts a bound Jewess standing beneath a palm with the legend &#039;IVDAEA DEVICTA&#039;!</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1010382[/ATTACH]<b>Vespasian</b></p><p>AR Denarius, 3.10g</p><p>Lyon mint, 71 AD</p><p>Obv: IMP CAESAR VESPASIANVS AVG TR P; Head of Vespasian, laureate, r.</p><p>Rev: IVDAEA DEVICTA; Palm tree; to l., Judaea stg. l., hands bound in front</p><p>RIC 1120 (C). BMC 388. RSC 243. BNC 297.</p><p>Acquired from eBay, March 2012.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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