The Wonderful World of Ancient Coin Collecting
Coinage of the Roman Empire


Obverse
Enlarge  
  
Reverse
Enlarge  

Coin Details

  

Set Details
Coin Description:
Grade: NGC VF Strike: 4/5 Surface: 3/5
Grade Comment: sand patina
Owner: RAM-VT
 
Set Category: Ancients
Set Name: The Wonderful World of Ancient Coin Collecting
Slot Name: Coinage of the Roman Empire
Research: Currently not available

Owner's Description

Judaea John Hyrcanus 134 - 104 BC AE Prutah Grade: VF: Strike 4/5: Surface 3/5 – Sand patina Census - NGC does not provide census info on ancient coins :>( Obv,: Five lines of ancient Hebrew inscription . Rev.: Double cornucopiae and pomegranate between the horns. Before I present the historical information relating to John Hyrcanus I want to tell you how this coin came to be in my possession. As with almost all my ancients I purchased this coin on eBay. It was being sold by a dealer in Israel and I figured if anyone knew what this was it would a dealer from Israel. Well this dealer attributed this coin to Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BC). So when I sent this coin to NGC that is how I attributed the coin. This submittal contained 15 coins and I would follow the progress of this submittal on NGC’s tracking option. Well this coin stayed unattributed for some time. This had happened once or twice before and this was when my attribution was wrong and more research was needed to attribute the coin. Well as you can see it turned out to be John Hyrcanus. Now John Hyrcanus was the nephew of Judah (Yehudah) the Maccabee. Also the first coinage of the Maccabees was struck under John Hyrcanus (ref. The Shoshana collection catalogue). I would rather have this coin than a similar coin struck under Alexander Jannaeus. The Hasmonean dynasty, was the ruling dynasty of Kingdom of Judah and surrounding regions during classical antiquity. The Hasmonean dynasty was established under the leadership of Simon Maccabaeus, two decades after his brother Judas the Maccabee ("Hammer") defeated the Seleucid army during the Maccabean Revolt (c. 140B.C.). John Hyrcanus (reigned 134 - 104 BC, died 104 BC) was a Hasmonean (Maccabeean) leader of the 2nd century BC. He was the son of Simon Maccabaeus and hence the nephew of Judas Maccabaeus, Jonathan Maccabaeus and their siblings, whose story is told in the deuterocanonical books of 1 Maccabees and 2 Maccabees, in the Talmud, and in Josephus. John was not present at a banquet at which his father and his two brothers were murdered, purportedly by his brother-in-law, Ptolemy, son of Abubus. Josephus explains in The Jewish War that John was also known as "Hyrcanus", but does not explain the reason behind this name. The only other primary source, the Books of the Maccabees, never use this name with respect to John, with the single reference to Hyrcanus in 2 Maccabees 3:11 referring to a man to whom some of the money in the Temple belonged during the c.178 BCE visit of Heliodorus. During the first year of Hyrcanus’ reign, he faced the most serious challenge to independent Judean rule from the Seleucid Empire. Antiochus VII Sidetes marched into Judea, pillaged the countryside and laid a year long siege on Jerusalem. The prolonged siege caused Hyrcanus to remove any Judean from the city who could not assist with the defense effort. These refugees were not allowed to pass through Antiochus’ lines. Therefore, these Judeans were literally trapped in the middle of a chaotic siege. With a humanitarian crisis on his hands, Hyrcanus re-admitted his estranged Jerusalemites when the festival of Sukkot arrived. Afterwards, due to massive food shortages in Jerusalem, Hyrcanus negotiated a truce with Antiochus. The repercussions of the Seleucid siege were initially a difficult set-back for Hyrcanus. Judea faced tough economic times after the countryside was plundered and Jerusalem was under siege. Economic struggles were greatly magnified by taxes to the Seleucids enforced by Antiochus. Furthermore, Hyrcanus was forced to accompany Antiochus on his eastern campaign in 130 BC. Hyrcanus probably would have functioned as the military commander of a Jewish company in the campaign. Instead of governing a devastated Judean state, Hyrcanus was in Parthia fighting with Antiochus. John Hyrcanus was able to take advantage of unrest in Seleucia to assert Judean independence and conquer new territories. In 130BCE Demetrius II returned from exile in Hyrcania to take control of Seleucia. However, transition of power made it difficult for Demetrius to assert control over Judea. Furthermore, the Seleucid Empire itself fell apart into smaller principalities. The Ituraeans of Lebanon, the Ammonites of the Transjordan, and the Arabian Nabateans represented independent principalities that broke away from Seleucid control. Hyrcanus was determined to take advantage of the dissipating Seleucid Empire to increase the Judean State. My cost was $25

To follow or send a message to this user,
please log in