My Favorite Coin

I am a collector of ancient coins. My collection spans the from the earliest of mintages (Sicily, circa 490 Before the Common Era (BCE)), and continues through the period of the early Roman emperors (the last of which in my collection was minted circa 81 of the Common Era (CE)). I particularly prize coins minted by ancient Jewish polities. These coins were issued by the Hasmoneans (140-37 BCE), the Jews while under Roman (Herodian) rule (37 BCE-66 CE), the Jews during the Great Revolt against Rome (66 CE – 70 CE) and the Jews during the Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-135 CE). I prize these ancient Jewish (Judean) coins for many reasons, including that they prove an ancient Jewish connection to the Land of Israel, that they use symbols of Jewish iconography (e.g., lulavs and etrogim, pomegranates, depictions of the Temple and sacramental chalices) that remain relevant to Jews to this day and that they engender a pride in Jewish history.

Yet, among the favorite coins in my collection is not a coin issued by a Jewish polity, but one issued by a Roman emperor. This Roman Emperor was Vespasian, who ruled over the Roman Empire from 69 – 79 CE. This particular coin was minted circa 70/71 CE. The obverse side of the coin depicts a bust of Vespasian. The reverse side of the coin depicts a woman in a state of mourning sitting on the ground, her head – veiled – is supported by her left hand. She sits, weeping, before a military trophy consisting of a helmet, cuirass, two shields, and greaves mounted on a pole, with two more shields at the base. Below this scene is the word “JUDAEA”. See photo.

Some background as to what this means. In the year 66 CE, the Jews in Judea rebelled against increasingly grievous Roman rule and massacred the local Roman garrison. The Jewish residents of the land we call Israel (and then called Judea – the land of the Jews) expelled the Romans and established self-rule. The Roman emperor at the time, Nero, sent his general Vespasian to crush the revolt. Vespasian was dispatched with three legions to do so. This revolt was finally subdued in the year 70 CE with the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple by General Titus (Vespasian’s son).[1]

What the reverse of this coin, then, commemorates is the defeat by the Romans of this Jewish revolt. Judea is represented by the Jewess in mourning, and the stack of war trophies represents a military victory. This particular type of coin is among many others in the Judaea Capta (Judea captured) series issued not only by Vespasian but also by other Roman emperors (including his son, Titus, who would later become emperor). The victory over the Jews was widely celebrated by the Romans and was of such significance that this triumph was used by Roman emperors as a propaganda tool to help secure their rule. That this particular victory (as compared to countless other victories) was elevated to such a level would seem to evidence that the Great Jewish Revolt was of such magnitude that it was worthy of empire-wide accolades.

The reader may be wondering why I would favor this coin over the many others in my collection. After all, this coin depicts the annihilation of a Jewish polity and the destruction of Jerusalem. There are two reasons for this. First, and admittedly the lesser of the two reasons, is that this coin tells its holder that the Jewish revolt was so unique in its difficulty to suppress that the Romans found it of such significance that they felt justified in celebrating their success with the mintage of an entire series of coins. The second reason is that this coin, notwithstanding its rather sad motif, epitomizes the resilience of the Jewish people over the millennia. The Jews survived the Roman Empire, and all the other empires that preceded that empire (Babylonian, Assyrian, Hittite, Egyptian, Greek, Persian, etc.) as well as those that succeeded that empire (Mongol, Byzantine, Ottoman, etc.). While the Jewish people may have suffered a defeat by the great Roman Empire, they have outlasted that empire and all of the other great empires of history.[2]

Am Yisroel Chai.

[1] The Arch of Titus in Rome, still visible today, shows the Romans carrying the spoils of the Second Temple in a triumphant procession in Rome.

[2] Rabbi Meir Soloveichik, in a recent talk my wife and I attended, expressed a similar view when he recounted how, whenever he visits London, he always takes his children to the British Museum. There, he shows his kids the wonders of the great empires that ruled the ancient world but impresses upon them that they are all gone to the dust heap of history, yet the Jewish people remain.