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DOI article:Cieciela̢g, Jerzy: Ascalon coins and the roots of the Herodian Dynasty
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22229#0034
JERZY CIECIELĄG
a portrait of the ruler and an image of an eagle; significantly, Seleucid coins from
Ascalon were struck with an AZ or AZK, mint mark)4.
In 168/167 BC, when Jerusalem saw the height of persecution by Antiochus IV
Epiphanes (with the “desolating sacrilege” of the tempie), Ascalon coins first featured
the inscription AZKAAQNITGN AHMOY5. Unfoilunately, we are unable to State with
fuli coiwiction whether the inscription had to do with Antiochus IV granting Ascalon
the charter of a polis. Nor did the inscription continue in later issues. Thus no recog-
nized era began at that moment. We can only surmise that if the city indeed won any
privileges in the year those coins were issued, they did not last very long.
It should be noted that in 145 BC, at the end of Alexander I Balas’s reign (150—
145 BC), the Ascalon mint altered the style and weight of its coins (PI. 1, Fig. 1), ad-
justing them to Phoenician standards, an excellent example of this being the usurper
Tryphon’s issue of 140 BC and the city’s entire subseąuent monetary system (PI. 1,
Fig. 2-3)6. Somewhat earlier, Jonathan Maccabee moved against Ascalon, and
among the most influential citizens of the Phoenician city could be one Herod (bom
perhaps ca. 178 BC), the first member of the Herodian dynasty by that name, if we
accept the theory of its origin in Ascalon. Scholars who lean toward this solution
speculate that it was that Herod’s son, Antipater, who might have become a hostage
of the Maccabean ruler7.
The origin of the Herodian dynasty has for years been the subject of contention
among scholars. The first member of the dynasty mentioned by Josephus Flavius
is Antipas, to whom Alexander Janneus (103-76 BC) entrusted the govemance of
Idumaea8. In the following years, the elan kept rising in the world, its tnie greatness
properly built by Antipas’ son, Antipater I, whose son in tum, Herod the Great, be-
came king of Judea. Josephus Flavius’s account suggests that the family came from
Idumaea. But apart from this still prevailing theory, there are two other versions of
the family’s roots. One comes from Nicholas of Damascus, Herod the Great’s clos-
4 G. F. HILL, Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Palestine/Ascalon (subseąuently BMC
Palestine/Ascalon), London 1914, p. XLVIII. The dates found on the royal issues in Ascalon reckoned according to
the Seleucid era are the following: 144 = 169/168 BC; 145 = 168/167 BC; 165 = 148/147 BC; 166 = 147/146 BC;
186 = 127/126 BC; 187= 126/125 BC; 189 = 124/123 BC; 190= 123/122 BC; 191 = 122/121 BC; 192 = 121/120
BC; 193 = 120/119 BC; 195 = 118/117 BC; 196 = 117/116 BC; 197 = 116/115 BC and finally successive years from
199 = 114/113 BC to 209 = 104/103 BC. For Ascalon coinage under Antioch IV, see: O. M0RKHOLM, Antiochus
IV of Syria, Copenhagen 1966, pp. 125-128, notes 31 and 40.
5 BMC Palestine/Ascalon, No. 7, tab. 11.13; the datę is confirmed by M. ROSENBERGER (ed.), The
Rosenberger Israel Collection, 1, Jerusalem 1972, p. 34, No. 2; for persecution of Antioch IV Epiphanes, see:
J. CIECIELĄG, „'Ohyda spustoszenia' a problem wizyt Antiocha IV Epifanesa w Jerozolimie. Przyczynek do
dziejów prześladowań Żydów przez Seleucydów”, (in:) F. KIRYK, M. WILCZYŃSKI, J. CIECIELĄG (eds), Ami-
corum Dona. Studia classica et orientalia Stephano Skowronek ab amicis, collegis, discipulis oblata, Kraków 1998,
pp. 55-61.
6 A. B. BRETT, “The Mint of Ascalon...”, pp. 45, 48, No. 8, tab. 8.7.
7 N. KOKKINOS, The Herodian Dynasty. Origins, Role in Society andEclipse, Sheffield 1998, p. 129.
8 Joseph. AJ XIV, I, 3, 10.
a portrait of the ruler and an image of an eagle; significantly, Seleucid coins from
Ascalon were struck with an AZ or AZK, mint mark)4.
In 168/167 BC, when Jerusalem saw the height of persecution by Antiochus IV
Epiphanes (with the “desolating sacrilege” of the tempie), Ascalon coins first featured
the inscription AZKAAQNITGN AHMOY5. Unfoilunately, we are unable to State with
fuli coiwiction whether the inscription had to do with Antiochus IV granting Ascalon
the charter of a polis. Nor did the inscription continue in later issues. Thus no recog-
nized era began at that moment. We can only surmise that if the city indeed won any
privileges in the year those coins were issued, they did not last very long.
It should be noted that in 145 BC, at the end of Alexander I Balas’s reign (150—
145 BC), the Ascalon mint altered the style and weight of its coins (PI. 1, Fig. 1), ad-
justing them to Phoenician standards, an excellent example of this being the usurper
Tryphon’s issue of 140 BC and the city’s entire subseąuent monetary system (PI. 1,
Fig. 2-3)6. Somewhat earlier, Jonathan Maccabee moved against Ascalon, and
among the most influential citizens of the Phoenician city could be one Herod (bom
perhaps ca. 178 BC), the first member of the Herodian dynasty by that name, if we
accept the theory of its origin in Ascalon. Scholars who lean toward this solution
speculate that it was that Herod’s son, Antipater, who might have become a hostage
of the Maccabean ruler7.
The origin of the Herodian dynasty has for years been the subject of contention
among scholars. The first member of the dynasty mentioned by Josephus Flavius
is Antipas, to whom Alexander Janneus (103-76 BC) entrusted the govemance of
Idumaea8. In the following years, the elan kept rising in the world, its tnie greatness
properly built by Antipas’ son, Antipater I, whose son in tum, Herod the Great, be-
came king of Judea. Josephus Flavius’s account suggests that the family came from
Idumaea. But apart from this still prevailing theory, there are two other versions of
the family’s roots. One comes from Nicholas of Damascus, Herod the Great’s clos-
4 G. F. HILL, Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Palestine/Ascalon (subseąuently BMC
Palestine/Ascalon), London 1914, p. XLVIII. The dates found on the royal issues in Ascalon reckoned according to
the Seleucid era are the following: 144 = 169/168 BC; 145 = 168/167 BC; 165 = 148/147 BC; 166 = 147/146 BC;
186 = 127/126 BC; 187= 126/125 BC; 189 = 124/123 BC; 190= 123/122 BC; 191 = 122/121 BC; 192 = 121/120
BC; 193 = 120/119 BC; 195 = 118/117 BC; 196 = 117/116 BC; 197 = 116/115 BC and finally successive years from
199 = 114/113 BC to 209 = 104/103 BC. For Ascalon coinage under Antioch IV, see: O. M0RKHOLM, Antiochus
IV of Syria, Copenhagen 1966, pp. 125-128, notes 31 and 40.
5 BMC Palestine/Ascalon, No. 7, tab. 11.13; the datę is confirmed by M. ROSENBERGER (ed.), The
Rosenberger Israel Collection, 1, Jerusalem 1972, p. 34, No. 2; for persecution of Antioch IV Epiphanes, see:
J. CIECIELĄG, „'Ohyda spustoszenia' a problem wizyt Antiocha IV Epifanesa w Jerozolimie. Przyczynek do
dziejów prześladowań Żydów przez Seleucydów”, (in:) F. KIRYK, M. WILCZYŃSKI, J. CIECIELĄG (eds), Ami-
corum Dona. Studia classica et orientalia Stephano Skowronek ab amicis, collegis, discipulis oblata, Kraków 1998,
pp. 55-61.
6 A. B. BRETT, “The Mint of Ascalon...”, pp. 45, 48, No. 8, tab. 8.7.
7 N. KOKKINOS, The Herodian Dynasty. Origins, Role in Society andEclipse, Sheffield 1998, p. 129.
8 Joseph. AJ XIV, I, 3, 10.