2. Judah after Alexander the Great | Digitaler Ausstellungskatalog

Showcase 2: Hellenistic Province Judah (c. 330 - 250 BCE)

Alexander the Great’s (336-323 BCE) successful campaign through Asia to the Indus brought the downfall of the Persian Empire. The political changes had an impact on Judah, which became part of Alexander’s empire (Fig. B.). After the death of the Macedonian king, his generals, the Diadochi quarreling over the succession, split the kingdom among themselves. After the changing fortunes of war during the first years of the Diadochi, Judah came under the rule of the Ptolemies, who ruled Egypt (Overview Map).

Little is known about the history of Judah at the time of the Diadochi. The province seems hardly to have been involved in geopolitical events. However, the shifts in political power also had significant consequences for Judah, which are reflected in the coinage. The new Ptolemaic rulers granted the individual mints only limited room for the representation of political autonomy. The political changes also affected the weight system of the Yehud coins, which now followed the Greek Attic weight system (weight of the drachma approximately 4.36 grams) and was no longer based on the shekel. An observation such as this makes it possible for numismatists to assign coins whose dating is unclear at least to certain periods.

In contrast to the distinct discontinuity of the large number of settlements extant between the late Iron Age and the Persian period, few breaks are recorded in the settlement patterns and material culture in Palestine at the transition from the late Persian to the early Hellenistic period. This picture is confirmed by the Judean stamps and coins, which indicate a continuity of administrative structures between the late 4th and early 3rd century BCE in Judah. The incorporation of Judah into the Ptolemaic Kingdom as a separate administrative unit (hyparchy) led by the Jewish high priests, who were directly responsible to the government in Alexandria, was responsible for this. In contrast, hyparchs, who were instated directly by the Ptolemaic king, managed all other hyparchies in Coele-Syria, such as Samaria, Galilee, Idumea and Ashdod.

Under Ptolemy II (283-246 BCE), or perhaps shortly thereafter, the series of Yehud coins ended. This may relate to a coinage reform carried out by Ptolemy II in the years 261/260 BCE, through which the Yehud coins were replaced by Ptolemaic precious metal coins. Growing political tensions between Jerusalem and the Ptolemaic rulers in Alexandria (Fig. C.) could also have led to the province’s loss of the right to mint its own coinage. With this, coin minting came to a halt for almost a century in Judah.

The Yehud Coinage after the Conquest of Alexander

The late Yehud coinage can be divided into two phases: Firstly, in the period from the end of the Persian Empire until the consolidation of the Ptolemaic reign over Judah (the time of the Diadochi), and secondly, the time of Ptolemaic rule. The imagery of the two phases differed significantly, and only isolated motifs were used in both phases.

A number of coin types belong to the Diadochi period, whose pictorial language refers to a Jewish background and barely refers to the preceding Persian or succeeding Ptolemaic sovereignties. The falcon type coins can be divided into two groups, the first of which bears the image of the Persian king (No.4A Showcase 1), while the latter shows only Jewish images, such as the shofar (No.3A), the lily (No.1A) and helmet or incense bowl (No.4A). It follows that the later class of falcon type coins were emitted during the time of the Diadochi, before the start of Ptolemaic hegemony over this region. After this time, there was a complete change in the iconography of the Yehud coins.

The lily as a symbol of Jerusalem (No.1A) came to play a significant role not only on the Yehud coins, but rather enjoyed lasting importance in Jewish coinage until the late 1st century BCE under the Hasmonaeans. Other images are more difficult to explain, such as the ear (No.2A), which has been interpreted as a representation of Yahweh, or as a symbol of the shema (credo) prayer.

After the consolidation of Ptolemaic rule, the coins of Judah followed the example of royal Ptolemaic coinage. In this, the portrait of the king was generally placed on the front (obverse), while on the back (reverse) the eagle of Zeus, the heraldic animal of the Ptolemies, was displayed standing on a thunderbolt (No.9B). Instead of Greek circumscription, the characteristic paleo-Hebrew letters YHD or YHDH were placed on the Jewish coins (No.6A). Already widespread under Ptolemy I (306-283 BCE) was a Yehud-coin type that on the obverse showed the portrait of Ptolemy wearing a diadem and on the reverse an eagle with spread wings and the letters YHDH (Yehuda) (No.7B).

The coins minted under Ptolemy II (283-246 BCE) not only display his own portrait on the obverse (No.10A), but sometimes also those of his parents, Ptolemy I and Berenice I (340-268 BCE) as well as that of his wife Arsinoe II (316-270 BCE). Only one specimen showing jugate portraits of the parents of Ptolemy II on the obverse and Ptolemy II himself with his wife Arsinoe on the reverse (No.11A) has so far been recorded. With these, Ptolemy II emphasized dynastic continuity and presented himself as the only legitimate successor. With the addition of the paleo-Hebrew characters, these otherwise foreign images were added unchanged to the Jewish pictorial language (No.8A).

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