Notae Numismaticae - Zapiski Numizmatyczne (3/4.1999)

TOM Ul/W

KRAKÓW 1999

ZAPISKI NUMIZMATYCZNE

JANUSZ A. OSTROWSKI

Institute of Archaeology, Jagiellonian University
Cracow

PERSONIFICATIONS OF JUDAEA
ON FLAYIAN COINS

The accession of Vespasian to the principate - owing in part to his
success in stifling the Jewish revolt, and to the support of the legions
stationed in the East - became the occasion for the creation of an entire
rangę of art works intended to commemorate the suppression of the
uprising in Judaea. To be sure, the uprising was still in progress when
the emperor took the throne, but in June of A.D. 71, only a few months
after the fali of Jerusalem on April 15, 70, Vespasian celebrated a tri-
umph in Rome, riding with Titus on the chariot, and accompanied by
Domitian on horseback. This triumph - known to us from the precise
description given by Josephus (Bell.iud. VII.4.5.), and from the reliefs
adorning the Arch of Titus (erected ten years later)1 - served in a par-

1 In addition to the two generally familiar reliefs from the passage, depicting scenes
from the triumph, this arch is also adorned by a smali continuom frieze located below the

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