DOI issue:
Artikuły / Articles
DOI article:Ariʾel, Donald Tsevi: The circulation of locally minted Persian-Period coins in the Southern Levant
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.41338#0018
DONALD T. ARIEL
the series, the mints are not identified, and experts are of the opinion that
the otherwise un-ascribed Philistian coins - and maybe others - were minted
in a collective mint, possibly in Gaza.12 In addition, noteworthy for my subject,
already in their Philistia volume, Gitler and Tal reported that Philistian coins
strayed far from the heartland of Philistia.13
YEHUD
The first coin of the Yehud series is also its most controversial.14 A drachm
known from the 18th century, the inscription on the coin was compellingly read
as yhd by Sukenik in an article15 which also identified it as one in a new series
of coins, now known as the Yehud series. Sukenik’s series was based upon
the drachm, an obol in the hands of a Palestinian collector, and a hemiobol
found three years earlier (1931) in the excavations at Beth Zur.16 It took another
thirty-eight years before another Yehud coin was found and identified as such in
an excavation.17 This coin came from French Hill, a new neighborhood in modem
Jerusalem less than 2 km north of the ancient city.18 By this time, after the Six Day
War, clandestine antiąuities theft had produced a growing number of coins from
within this series, and the provenance infonnation that was provided to numismatists
spoke of findspots south of Jerusalem.19 Therefore, owing to the paucity of such
coins in excavations within the Capital, and the fact that the inscriptions on the
coins did not read yrślm (Jerusalem) but rather yhd, yhwd or (later) yhdh (Judah),
the location of the mint was not immediately elear. In fact, it took some time before
a consensus was reached that the mint was Jerusalem, the Capital of Judah. As late
as 1977, one could still find people supporting the view that the Yehud series was
12 GITLER and TAL 2009: 28-29.
13 GITLER and TAL 2006a: 52-61 (Table 3.3).
14 In 1967, Meshorer (1967: 37) argued that this drachm was struck in Judah “by Persian authorities.”
Mildenberg (1979: 185) concurred with this assessment. In 1993, Barag (1993: 265) suggested that the drachm
might have been minted in Gaza, for the Yehud minting authorities. In 2006, Gitler and Tal (2006a: 230)
reattributed the drachm to a Philistian mint. In 2007-2008, Shenkar argued that it was most plausibly a Samarian
coin. Subseąuently, another drachm has been identified as one issued in a Philistian mint and intended to circulate
in Judea (GITLER 2011: 21-33).
15 SUKENIK 1934: 180.
16 Ibidem, p. 181. The coin derived from an excavation in 1931 (SELLERS 1933: 73-74, no. 9).
17 In 1937, a Philistian drachm was excavated at Lachish, but it was misidentified as Athenian. It was
published in Kirkman (1953: 412, no. 2). The identification was corrected in Gitler and Tal (2006a: 50, fig. 3:13;
54, table 3.3).
18 NEGBI 1970: 573.
19 Mildenberg (1979: 190) described the precise findspots as “the Bethlehem district, both east and west
of the main road to Hebron.”
the series, the mints are not identified, and experts are of the opinion that
the otherwise un-ascribed Philistian coins - and maybe others - were minted
in a collective mint, possibly in Gaza.12 In addition, noteworthy for my subject,
already in their Philistia volume, Gitler and Tal reported that Philistian coins
strayed far from the heartland of Philistia.13
YEHUD
The first coin of the Yehud series is also its most controversial.14 A drachm
known from the 18th century, the inscription on the coin was compellingly read
as yhd by Sukenik in an article15 which also identified it as one in a new series
of coins, now known as the Yehud series. Sukenik’s series was based upon
the drachm, an obol in the hands of a Palestinian collector, and a hemiobol
found three years earlier (1931) in the excavations at Beth Zur.16 It took another
thirty-eight years before another Yehud coin was found and identified as such in
an excavation.17 This coin came from French Hill, a new neighborhood in modem
Jerusalem less than 2 km north of the ancient city.18 By this time, after the Six Day
War, clandestine antiąuities theft had produced a growing number of coins from
within this series, and the provenance infonnation that was provided to numismatists
spoke of findspots south of Jerusalem.19 Therefore, owing to the paucity of such
coins in excavations within the Capital, and the fact that the inscriptions on the
coins did not read yrślm (Jerusalem) but rather yhd, yhwd or (later) yhdh (Judah),
the location of the mint was not immediately elear. In fact, it took some time before
a consensus was reached that the mint was Jerusalem, the Capital of Judah. As late
as 1977, one could still find people supporting the view that the Yehud series was
12 GITLER and TAL 2009: 28-29.
13 GITLER and TAL 2006a: 52-61 (Table 3.3).
14 In 1967, Meshorer (1967: 37) argued that this drachm was struck in Judah “by Persian authorities.”
Mildenberg (1979: 185) concurred with this assessment. In 1993, Barag (1993: 265) suggested that the drachm
might have been minted in Gaza, for the Yehud minting authorities. In 2006, Gitler and Tal (2006a: 230)
reattributed the drachm to a Philistian mint. In 2007-2008, Shenkar argued that it was most plausibly a Samarian
coin. Subseąuently, another drachm has been identified as one issued in a Philistian mint and intended to circulate
in Judea (GITLER 2011: 21-33).
15 SUKENIK 1934: 180.
16 Ibidem, p. 181. The coin derived from an excavation in 1931 (SELLERS 1933: 73-74, no. 9).
17 In 1937, a Philistian drachm was excavated at Lachish, but it was misidentified as Athenian. It was
published in Kirkman (1953: 412, no. 2). The identification was corrected in Gitler and Tal (2006a: 50, fig. 3:13;
54, table 3.3).
18 NEGBI 1970: 573.
19 Mildenberg (1979: 190) described the precise findspots as “the Bethlehem district, both east and west
of the main road to Hebron.”