336 The First Jewish Shekels. 



and though he did not assume the title of king, he reigned as 

 an independent monarch for twenty-nine years. The coins he 

 issued bear the dynastic type of the two horns of plenty esta- 

 blished by his uncles, Judas and Jonathan. The name within 

 the wreath on the obverse is spelt Jehouhanna, followed by the 

 usual titles ; and the Greek A above the Hebrew inscription 

 has been explained as the initial of Antiochus Sidetes, with 

 whom and John Hyrcanus an alliance existed in 134 or 135 B.C. 

 No coins but those of small copper are known of this prince. 

 He died 106 B.C. The coin engraved at No. 4 has been 

 attributed to John Hyrcanus, though the inscription does not 

 agree with those engraved by M. de Saulcy. 



Aristobulus (Judas Aristobulus) succeeded his father, and 

 was the first of the Asniongean dynasty who assumed the name 

 of king. He only reigned one year, dying of an illness 

 aggravated by remorse for having put to death his mother, 

 who had been left regent of the kingdom by Hyrcanus. 

 Small copper coins, similar to those engraved at Figs. 2 and 

 4, have been attributed to Aristobulus. Others, with Greek 

 letters, forming part of his Hebrew name, written as I OTA A, 

 etc., are now attributed to him, and are the coins previously 

 alluded to which were formerly assigned to the first Judas 

 Maccabaeus. 



Alexander Jannasus (Jannaaus being a corruption ; his 

 native name Jonathan), another of the sons of John Hyrcanus, 

 succeeded his brother Aristobulus, and reigned from the 

 year 106 to 105 b.c It will have been seen that the custom 

 of adding a Greek name to the national one had then be- 

 come a fixed custom, and that throughout Judaoa the Greek 

 element of civilization, at that period, was so strong that 

 the foreign name, and even foreign types, were placed on 

 the national coin ; for the coins of Alexander Janneeus do 

 not bear, in the specimens yet known, the usual Asmonaean 

 type, but in its stead the well-known Syrian emblem of the 

 Seleucidas, the anchor, implying perhaps a close alliance with 

 one or other of the princes of the Syrian family. Alexander 

 Jannreus died in 78 B.C., after a tempestuous reign, bequeathing 

 his kingdom to his widow. 



Alexandra reigned from 78 to 69 B.C. Her coins have 

 legible Greek inscriptions round the anchor type; but the 

 Hebrew legends bare not been deciphered. 



Hyrcanus II. This feeble prince succeeded his mother 

 Alexandra, but was displaced by his brother, Aristobulus II., 

 which led to that appeal fco the Roman power, already predo- 

 minant in Syria,, which ended in the taking of Jerusalem by 

 Pompcy. The Roman commander reinstated Hyrcanus, car- 

 rying off Aristobulus prisoner to Rome. Further troubles led 



