Silver shekel of the Second Jewish Revolt, from Judaea (CE 133-35)
On two occasions, the Jews raised armed revolts
against Roman domination. The revolts, in CE 66-70 and 133-35, seem
to have occurred mainly for religious reasons. On both occasions
the leaders of the revolts struck coins in silver, presumably to
pay their soldiers. After initial success, the Second Revolt, also
known as the Bar Kochba Rebellion after its leader Simon Bar
Kochba, was also crushed. The Romans renamed Jerusalem Aelia
Capitolina and built a temple to
Jupiter
on the site of the Jewish
Temple. As in the first
Jewish Revolt, the silver coins issued carried designs and legends
expressing Jewish religious and nationalist feelings. On the
obverse (front) of this coin can be seen a representation of the
façade of the
Temple
at Jerusalem. The fact that the Temple no longer existed at the
time of the coin's production makes the choice of this
image doubly striking. The legend reads 'Simon'. On
the reverse is depicted the ritual 'Lulav', a
palm-branch tied together with willow and myrtle branches. This
image seems connected with the desire to rebuild the Temple. The
legend reads 'Deliverance of
Jerusalem'. (British Museum)
