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^OJ 



332 The First Jewish Shekels. 



correctness of the present attribution of these coins to the 

 epoch of Alexander, as they closely resemble in style the treat- 

 ment of the letters of Greek coins of the period, particularly 

 in the little knob or pellet by which all their main lines are 

 terminated. The inscription is in the ancient Jewish character, 

 commonly known as the Samaritan, which was 

 used for all national and monumental purposes 

 long after the common Hebrew letters, acquired 

 during the captivity, had been in general use 

 for ordinary purposes. The inscription reads, 

 beginning at bottom of the right-hand side, 

 and reading upwards, Jeroushalem ha kedou- 

 , p^ shah, Jerusalem the Holy. The vowels, omitted 

 after the manner of all early oriental systems of 

 writing, are not supplied by points, as in the 

 £) Kn later Hebrew, which renders some of the in- 

 ?oo scriptions very difficult to read; but those of 

 the coin under description may be easily 

 followed, on reading it from right to left in 

 ^^ the usual Hebrew manner, as in engraving, and 

 □ ^3 comparing it with the common Hebrew and 

 -~*<m English letters, between which the omissions 

 X ^ of aspirates and vowels are supplied within 

 brackets; the whole of the English letters, 

 double letters, and vowels being numbered, to 

 mark unmistakeably the order of succession in 

 3/3 which they are to be read. 

 p 2 On the reverse, the type consists of a vase, 



said by some numismatists to represent the 

 o^< sacred cup called Omer, filled with manna, in 

 ^2 allusion to the following passage in Exodus 

 *^ xvi. 32: "And Moses said, This is the thin £ 



<x £} ES 1-1 which the Lord commandeth, Fill an omer of it 

 <P 01 to be kept for your generations, that they may 



see the bread with which I fed them in the 

 Tk__ x <JSq wilderness/' Above the cup are the two letters 

 IfV* ^ Schin and Beth, expressing " second year," 



oS the first being the initial of Shinath (year), 

 and the second, being Beth, the second letter 

 of the Jewish alphabet, used as the numeral 2 by the Jews, 

 who, like the Greeks, adopted the letters of their national alpha- 

 bet, in their regular order, for their numerals. The inscrip- 

 tion of the reverse, which may be read by the aid of the 

 explanation above, is S h (e) k (e) 1 I sh r a (e) 1, Shekel of 

 Israel. 



The high priest,. Yaddous, lived ten years after the granting 

 of the privileges referred to, dying about the same time as 



m; 



