During the reign of Aretas IV, the Nabataeans saw fit to spell out denominations on certain bronze coins, probably to distinguish them from earlier bronzes that had served as silver substitutes. This coin arrived yesterday, and although you can find much better examples of these common types, this one appealed to me because, on account of an off-center strike, the word שלם, meaning whole, is clearly visible over Shuqailat's head. (That's not her hairdo - it's the letters shin-lamedh-mem, read right to left.) These issues represent some of the first coins in history on which a denomination appears. Other, smaller coins, exhibit the words "half" and "quarter". (I haven't collected any of these, but the day is young.) The modern Hebrew word Shalom has multiple meanings: peace, wholeness, prosperity, and greeting. Perhaps the Nabataean word שלם also had deeper meanings, but I have no proof of it. Nabataea: Aretas IV Philopatris, r. 9 BC - 40 AD AE Unit, 18mm, 3.98g; Petra mint: AD 39/40 Obv.: Jugate busts r. of Aretas IV and Shuqailat, the king laureate, with moustache, and with hair hanging down to nape of neck; in field on r., ש, on l., ח; above their heads, inscr. שלם (= whole). Rev.: Two cornucopiae crossed; between them, above and below, in three lines, inscr. חרתת/שקי/לת (Aretas/ Shuqai/lat). Reference: Meshorer 112 I have a few more newps of Aretas IV which I'll post in this thread later.
i'll be darned, i would have never guessed that was anything other than hair! pretty destert patina also!
That's awesome. Haven't read hebrew since 8th grade. Really awesome to see this language on such an old coin.
The alphabet is Nabataean, but it typically gets transliterated into Hebrew, since the Hebrew block script is its closest cousin. There is a proposed unicode version of Nabataean in the works, but it's not available yet. I look forward to the time when transliterations won't be necessary.
To my knowledge, the Nabataeans were the first to do it. If anyone knows of an earlier occurrence, I'd like to know about it.
Here is a handful of the minute bronzes of Aretas IV, which I haven't posted before. These are of the bust/cornucopiae type. Various permutations of this type were minted throughout the entire reign of Aretas IV, and there are quite a few varieties to collect. They all come in around 12-14mm, and never weigh more than 1.5g. I imagine these coins were the real workhorses of the Nabataean economy, changing hands by the thousands during Aretas' long reign. One dealer in the Middle East told me you can't dig a hole on the Arabian Peninsula without finding a little coin of Aretas IV. The reverse of coin 1 exhibits the ligature heth-resh on the reverse with a dot over the top. The ligature is Aretas' monogram, but the meaning of the dot is unknown. Coin 2 has the ligature without a dot. Coin 3 exhibits a circle between the cornucopiae - its meaning is also unknown. Meshorer proffered the theory that it was a mint mark denoting Petra, but as far as we know, Petra was the only location at which the Nabataeans minted coins, so a mint mark would have been superfluous. The circle is not a Nabataean letter, and bears no obvious relationship to the Nabataean name for Petra, which was Reqem. This coin has an unusually nice portrait of the king. Coin 4 is of the parallel cornucopiae type. There is also a variety with parallel cornucopiae to the left, palm branch to right.
Quote "One dealer in the Middle East told me you can't dig a hole on the Arabian Peninsula without finding a little coin of Aretas IV." I've got my shovel! Let's go! Nice coins as always John.
