BIBLE HISTORY DAILY

For the Redemption of Zion

Year-four coin from the First Jewish Revolt found

The year-four coin featuring a chalice and the Hebrew inscription reading “For the redemption of Zion.”  Courtesy Emil Aladjem, Israel Antiquities Authority.

Excavations near the southwest corner of the ancient Temple Mount have uncovered a rare coin commemorating the fourth year of the First Jewish Revolt against Rome. Unlike earlier coins, year-four coins bear evidence of the growing pessimism of the Jewish rebels who would soon be trapped inside the besieged city of Jerusalem.

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Dating Revolt

Uncovered in excavations at the Davidson Center, the coin would have been minted in Jerusalem less than a year before the city’s destruction. Partly due to this impending destruction, year-four coins are rare among revolt coins. The iconography and inscription on this issue also differed from those that preceded them. While most earlier coins were minted with the words “For the freedom of Zion,” these coins bear the words “For the redemption of Zion.”

According to excavation director Yuval Baruch, this “indicates a profound change of identity and mindset, and perhaps also reflects the desperate situation of the rebel forces about six months before the fall of Jerusalem. It would seem that, in the rebellion’s fourth year, the mood of the rebels, now besieged in Jerusalem, changed from euphoria and anticipation of freedom at hand, to a dispirited mood and a yearning for redemption.”

The archaeological excavation where the coin was discovered. Courtesy Eliyahu Yanai, City of David.

The bronze coin bears the inscription on one side surrounding a goblet. On the other side is a lulav (a palm frond) and two etrogs (a type of citrus). Both the lulav and etrogs are symbols of the festival of Sukkot. On the same side of the coin as the lulav and etrogs is the inscription “year four.” This inscription allows the excavators to precisely date the coin’s minting to between March 69 CE and March 70 CE. In addition to the different inscription, year-four coins are also significantly larger and heavier than their earlier counterparts. The coins were minted in Jerusalem, likely under the authority of Shimon Bar Giora, one of several Jewish rebels vying for control of the soon-to-be encircled city.

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Jewish Revolts

Fleeing the Romans