Bar Kokhba revolt coinage

Bar Kokhba silver Shekel/tetradrachm. Obverse: the Jewish Temple facade with the rising star, surrounded by "Shimon". Reverse: A lulav, the text reads: "to the freedom of Jerusalem".

Bar Kokhba silver Zuz/Denarius, Undated, but attributed to year 3 (134-135 CE). Obverse: the Grape bunch on vine, surrounded by the name “Shim‘on” in paleo-Hebrew. Reverse: A palm branch surrounded by the phrase "to the freedom of Jerusalem"

Bar Kokhba silver Zuz/denarius. Obverse: trumpets surrounded by "To the freedom of Jerusalem". Reverse: A lyre surrounded by "Year two to the freedom of Israel"

Bar Kokhba revolt coinage were coins issued by the Judaean rebel state, headed by Simon Bar Kokhba, during the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire of 132–135 CE.

During the revolt, large quantities of coins were issued in silver and copper with rebellious inscriptions, all being overstruck over foreign (mostly Roman) coins, when a file was used to remove the designs of the original coins, such as the portrait of the Roman Emperor. The undercoin can clearly be seen on some of the silver coins because they were not filed down so as not to lose the value of the silver. On the bronze coins it is very difficult to see the underlying coin because they were filed down before they were over-struck. In rare instances, the coin cracked when it was overstruck.

The name "Shim'on" (likely referring to the leader of the Revolt, Shim'on (Simon) Bar Koseba) appears on all of the coins of the Bar Kokhba Revolt except for a few types issued at the beginning of the revolt with the name "Eleazar the Priest (Cohen),". The overstruck silver shekel/tetradrachms (see illustration) are among the most religiously significant coins issued by the ancient Jews, because the Holy of Holies of the Jerusalem Temple is shown, with the Ark of the Covenant. The word "Jerusalem" was inscribed around the representation of the Temple. Beginning in the second year of issue and continuing into the final year, a star appeared above the Temple on many coins, probably in reference to Bar Kokhba's nickname "Son of the Star". Agricultural symbols connected with the Jewish harvest festival of Sukkot, such as lulav and etrog, appear on the reverse of some of the smaller bronze coins, surrounded by a Hebrew inscription: 'Year One of the Redemption of Israel', 'Year Two of the Freedom of Israel', or 'For the Freedom of Jerusalem'.

In May 2020, a coin embossed with grapes and 'Year Two of the Freedom of Israel' was found in the William Davidson Archaeological Park next to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. This was only the fourth coin from this period to be found in the area, and the only Bar Kokhba coin to have Jerusalem's name on it.

Alternative attributions

The first group of these coins reviewed by numismatists were 10 silver pieces and one bronze piece found in the mid-nineteenth century. By 1881 the number of coins had grown to 43, and many more have been found since. These coins were first attributed to Bar Kokhba by Moritz Abraham Levy in 1862 and Frederic Madden in 1864.

Since the mid-nineteenth century, a number of scholars have provided alternative attributions for the coins. Claude Reignier Conder, writing in 1909, suggested that the coins were forgeries of the coins of Simon Thassi. Wolf Wirgin, writing in 1959, suggested that the coins were instead minted by King Herod Agrippa Alice Muehsam, writing in 1966, suggested that those coins with dates such as "Year 1" were actually First Jewish Revolt coinage.

In 1960 though a Cave of Letters was uncovered hosting Roman written documents of the Bar Kochba revolt. Earlier studies could not have known that and that makes them unreliable in a way.

Outside Judaea

As of 2023, twenty-four coins of the Bar Kokhba revolt were found outside Judaea, in various locations in the UK, Austria, Hungary, Romania and Croatia. The majority of coins were found around Roman military sites in the provinces of Britannia, Pannonia, Dacia and Dalmatia, including several legionary and auxiliary camps, though not always in a strictly military context. In 2010, Eshel, Zissu, and Barkay proposed tying these coins to Roman soldiers stationed in those camps who were active in quelling the Bar Kokhba revolt and took those coins with them as souvenirs or commemorative relics. In a 2023 article, Brull proposed that some of the coins may have been brought to the Europe by Jewish captives or immigrants who arrived in those areas of the revolt.

See also

• Historical currencies in Judaea
  • Ma'ah, Aramaic for gerah, ancient Hebrew unit of weight and currency
  • Prutah
  • Shekel, ancient Near Eastern unit of weight and coin
  • Zuz, ancient Jewish name for certain silver coinage
• Judaean and Judaea-related coinage
  • Yehud coinage
  • Hasmonean coinage
  • Herodian coinage
  • Procuratorial coinage of Roman Judaea
  • First Jewish Revolt coinage
  • Judaea Capta coinage
• List of historical currencies

Further reading

• Adler, Yonatan (2008). "The Temple Willow-Branch Ritual Depicted on Bar Kokhba Denarii". Israel Numismatic Journal. 16: 129–133.
• Bourgel, Jonathan (Yonatan) (2024). "A Representation of the Inauguration Ceremony of the Restored Temple? A (Tentative) Reinterpretation of the Bar Kokhba Tetradrachm". Harvard Theological Review. 117 (2): 250–267. doi:10.1017/S0017816024000099.
• Davies, William David; et al., eds. (2006). The Cambridge History of Judaism: The late Roman-Rabbinic period. Cambridge University Press. pp. 113–117. ISBN 978-0-521-77248-8.
• Fine, Steven (2005). Art and Judaism in the Greco-Roman world: toward a new Jewish archaeology. Cambridge University Press. p. 86. ISBN 978-0-521-84491-8.
• Goodman, Martin (2005). "Coinage and Identity: The Jewish Evidence". In C. J. Howgego; Volker Heuchert; Andrew M. Burnett (eds.). Coinage and identity in the Roman Provinces. Oxford University Press. pp. 163–166. ISBN 978-0-19-926526-8.
• Hendin, David (2006). "A Bronze Test Strike from the Bar Kokhba Revolt". Israel Numismatic Research. 1. Israel Numismatic Society: 111–116.
• Jacobson, David M. (21 October 2022). "Insights on the Bar Kokhba Revolt from the Coins". Electrum. 29: 171–196. doi:10.4467/20800909EL.22.012.15782. S2CID 253169323.
• Mildenberg, L. (1980). "Bar Kokhba Coins and Documents." Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, 84, 311–335. doi:10.2307/311055
• Schäfer, Peter (2003). The Bar Kokhba war reconsidered: new perspectives on the second Jewish revolt against Rome. Mohr Siebeck. p. 95. ISBN 978-3-16-148076-8.
• Schäfer, Peter (2003). The history of the Jews in the Greco-Roman world. Psychology Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-415-30585-3.
• Zerubavel, Yael (1997). Recovered Roots: Collective Memory and the Making of Israeli National Tradition. University of Chicago Press. pp. 48–49. ISBN 978-0-226-98158-1.