The First Jewish Shekels. 335 



the initials of the passage in Exodus (xv. 11) — "Who is like 

 unto thee, O Lord, among the gods ?" 



Jonathan nominally succeeded his brother Judas in 167 

 B.C. ; but as the Syrian forces after the death of Judas 

 obtained possession of nearly the whole of Judaea, he was 

 compelled, with his brother Simon, to act entirely on the 

 defensive ; and, about this time, the other remaining brother, 

 John, fell in battle. The increasing confusion caused by 

 various pretenders to the Syrian monarchy were, however, 

 favourable to Jonathan, and he not only regained the inde- 

 pendent position formerly held by Judas, but was influential 

 in bringing the affairs of Syria to a temporary settlement; 

 he was treacherously assassinated in the year 144 B.C. There are 

 small copper coins now attributed to Jonathan very similar to 

 those of his brother Judas ; the coins of both being very late ad- 

 ditions to the series, though Barthelemy had already deciphered 

 the name of Jonathan in 1749. The inscription is of similar 

 import to that on the coins of Judas. The representation 

 (No. 3, in the plate) is from the engraving published by M. de 

 Saulcy. The inscription reads Jehounathan, with the title of 

 1 ' high priest," and also that of " supreme," and " friend of 

 the Jews." The engraving is larger than the real coin, in order 

 to show the inscription more distinctly. 



Simon succeeded his brother Jonathan in 144 B.C. He was 

 on the whole the most steadily fortunate of the five sons of 

 Mattathias, and eventually drove the Syrian garrison from the 

 citadel of Jerusalem, thus establishing the entire independence 

 of the capital, and also of the greater part of Judaaa. It was to 

 Simon that Antiochus, the son of Demetrius, formally conceded 

 the right to coin national money, as related in the Chronicles 

 of the Maccabees, thus acknowledging the independence of 

 Judasa as a distinct state. When, therefore, modern numisma- 

 tists first succeeded in reading the inscriptions on the Jewish 

 money, and coins were actually found with such legends as 

 " Liberation of Zion," ' ' The Liberation of Jerusalem," and, 

 above all, " Simon, prince of Israel," with dates such as " the 

 first,'-' "the second," "the third," "the fourth year of inde- 

 pendence/ ' it was natural that they should be attributed to 

 Simon, the brother of Judas Maccabasus. The Jewish coinage 

 has, however, as previously stated, been recently distributed in 

 such a way that not a single well-authenticated coin is now 

 attributed to the last and greatest of the sons of Mattathias. 

 It is, however, most probable that he did issue coins, and 

 that specimens of them will yet be discovered. Simon was 

 treacherously assassinated by his son-in-law, Ptolenry, governor 

 of Jericho, in the year 1 35 B.C. 



John Hyrcanus, the son of Simon, succeeded his father, 



