15. The Bar Kokhba Revolt and the Foundation of Jerusalem as the Colony Aelia Capitolina

Showcase 15: The Second Jewish War (132 - 135 CE)

“That in the place of the razed city of Jerusalem he [Hadrian] had another erected, which he called Aelia Capitolina, and on the site of the Temple [burned in 70 CE] of the [Jewish] god he raised a new temple for Jupiter, provoked a war as dangerous as it was protracted.”(Cassius Dio, Roman History 69,12,1).

The Second Jewish War began in 132 CE and lasted more than three and a half years. It is also known historically as the Bar Kokhba Revolt, named for the leader of the Jewish rebels as he is known in the Christian tradition: Simon bar Kokhba (“Simon, son of the star”). His actual name, Simon ben Kosiba is known from contemporary correspondence and other finds discovered in caves in the Judean desert (Fig. A. and Fig. B.). Along with these, the so-called Bar Kokhba coins represent one of the most important sources for this short but significant phase of Jewish history.

The trigger for the war with Rome was possibly a prohibition on circumcision, and particularly the plans of the Emperor Hadrian (117 – 138 CE) to re-establish Jerusalem as a Roman colonia and build a temple to Jupiter on the ruins of the Jewish Temple. The overall causes of the war reach farther back, however, to the period following the end of the First Jewish War and the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, when there had been repeated problems between the Jews, now living in the diaspora, and the Roman administration.

The principal agitator was Rabbi Akiva, who invoked Numbers 24,17 and announced Simon ben Kosiba as the long-awaited messiah. At the same time, he prophesized victory for the Jewish people over the Roman troops. Rebels collected in Judea, and at the beginning of the revolt were able, through a kind of guerrilla warfare, to enjoy considerable success in the struggle against the Roman army. Jerusalem was scarcely affected by the events of the war. Cave finds from outside of Jerusalem show where the rebels stayed at times (Map).

The Romans did not anticipate the losses suffered by their army. That for Rome the revolt was not an incidental event taking place at the edge of the empire, however, is indicated in the period, for instance, by the eschewal of the usual formulas of greeting to the Senate by commanding army officers: “When you and your children are healthy, then it is good. We and the army are healthy.” (Cassius Dio, Roman History 69,14,2). Only when the Emperor Hadrian transferred command to the trusted general Julius Severus did the Romans succeed in crushing the rebellion in Judea. Simon ben Kosiba was killed in the fortress of Betar near Jerusalem, his last refuge, in 135 CE. Rabbi Akiva and the other rebels were executed.

For Hadrian, the significance of the victory over the Jews was accentuated only through the award of the title Imperator by the Senate in 135 or 136 CE. Otherwise, this second victory over the Jews, in contrast to the Roman propaganda following the First Jewish War, was not celebrated with a triumphal procession in Rome, nor does it find corresponding expression in the images on Hadrianic coins.

The bronze statue of Hadrian from Tel Shalem, today in the Israel Museum in Jerusalem (Fig. C.), may have been made in connection with the successful conclusion of the war – but was possibly also erected in 130 CE, when the emperor visited Palestine for the re-establishment of Jerusalem as Aelia Capitolina.

The Last Jewish Coins

A notable feature of the Bar Kokhba coins is that they are overstruck. The Jewish rebels re-struck coins already in circulation during this period – primarily Roman coins, but also others including coins from Palestinian city-states – with their own new motifs and legends. Even older Jewish coins, such as those of Herod the Great, were used as planchets. In addition to material needs, the re-striking of coins from the Roman occupiers was also a consciously symbolic act by which the depictions on the Roman coins were extinguished (No.1A).

The coinage from the period of the Bar Kokhba Revolt can be assigned to the four years of the war. While the pieces from the two first years bear the dates “year 1” (132/133 CE) (No.2B) and “year 2” (133/134 CE) (No.5A), the coins of the last two war years bear no indications of date (compare No.3B and No.13B). The rebel-led administration minted silver coins in three different denominations: sela’im (tetradrachmae), sheqalim (didrachmae) und zuzim (denarii). These Hebrew terms are recorded in contemporary sources. The denominations of the bronze coins are less well documented; they probably likewise included three or four different value levels.

The most common motif on the coins is the Temple façade, which refers either to the second Jewish Temple, at this point no longer extant, or to the third Temple, still to be rebuilt (No.2A). The reverses of the coins with the Temple façade show objects which derive from the Jewish Temple cult, for instance lulav and etrog in reference to the feast of Sukkot (No.2A). Motifs such as musical instruments (No.4B and No.6B) and vessels (No.9B and No.10B) can likely also be assigned to the cultic context.

In addition, there are images which indicate the land of Judah (palms and palm branches) and the fertility of the land (grapes and grape leaves) (No.11B). With these identity-forming motifs that refer to the cult and the land, these coins bear also inscriptions such as ŠM’WN N’SY YSR’L (“Shimon, Prince of Israel”) (No.4B), and from the second year only ŠM’WN (“Shimon”) (No.5A) or ‘L’ZR HKHN (“Eleazar the Priest”) (No.12A), with which they were personalized. Shimon is doubtless Simon ben Kosiba, the rebel leader, while“Eleazar the Priest” has thus far not been identified as a historic personality.

Coin No.14A is an example of the later reuse of a Bar Kokhba coin as a pendant. Among other things, the hole indicates which motifs were important for the wearer of the coin as a piece of jewellery. Whether in this case the wearer was mindful that he wore a coin from the rebellion can no longer be verified today.

Search form