The First Jewish Shekels. 341 



distinguish the coins issued under Ms authority from those of 

 his predecessor of the same name. He was the last prince of 

 the Herodian line. 



This insurrection of the Jews, which broke out towards the 

 close of the reign of Nero, notwithstanding the efforts of the 

 last of the Herodian princes to prevent it, was principally 

 provoked by the tyranny of Moras Gressius, who had succeeded 

 Albinus as procurator of Judasa. The Jewish coins illustrative of 

 this epoch are quite a recent numismatic discovery, for which 

 archasologists are indebted to the perseverance and skill of 

 M. de Vogue. They have for types a branch of palm, and 

 various other national types, but always avoiding those of the 

 Asmonasan, or Herodian race of kings. The petty tyranny of 

 the last native king's, though restricted both as to territory and 

 regal privileges, had been in fact so distasteful to the Jews, that 

 they had even petitioned, under Herod Archelaus, the son of 

 Herod the Great, that Judaea might be annexed to the Roman 

 province of Syria. It may be easily imagined, therefore, that 

 the monetary types of the Asmonasan and Herodian dynasties 

 had become distasteful, and that the more ancient native types, 

 similar to those used on the first Jewish coinage, issued by the 

 high priest Yaddous, should be preferred. The Jewish coins 

 struck during the revolt against Floras bear the name of Eleazar, 

 who had been elected high priest by the insurgents, and had 

 assumed the sovereign privilege of coinage. There are a whole 

 series of coins, of both silver and copper, bearing this name, 

 with inscriptions in which the ancient character was again 

 adopted. The obverse of the coin (Fig. 7) is one of this 

 series, and has for type a one-handled vase with an inscrip- 

 tion, which, in modern Hebrew, should read irTnn lT2?bw, 

 f( Eleazar the priest." The reverse has a bunch of grapes ; 

 but many other types of a similar class occur in other speci- 

 mens, bearing this name, all of which are superior in work- 

 manship to those of the first Maccabees. 



Gallus, the governor of Syria, having gone to the assistance 

 of Floras at the beginning of the rebellion, and having sus- 

 tained a disastrous defeat, Vespasian, then merely a popular 

 general, but known for his skill and determination, was sent 

 out to quell the revolt. During his prosecution of the war, 

 which became a very serious one, the death of Nero took place, 

 and, after brief possession of power, that of his successors, 

 Otho and Vitellius, also. Yespasian being elected emperor 

 while still directing the operations of the Roman army in Judaea, 

 transferred the command to his son Titus, who eventually 

 reduced the city on the 8th of September, a.d. 70, after one of 

 the most obstinate and desperate defences on record. 



After the taking of Jerusalem, Titus issued a provincial 



VOL. IV. — NO. V. A A 



