[Magazine] The Biblical Archaeologist. Vol. 49. No 1

70 Pages·1986·19.02 MB·English

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bi cal reacologa
A Publication of the American Schools of Oriental Research Volume 49 Number 1 March 1986
New Excavations
at Sepphoris
AMERICAN SCHOOLS OF ORIENTAL RESEARCH
ADMINISTRATIVOE FFICEA, SOR,4 243 SPRUCES TREETP, HILADELPHIAP,A 19104 [phone]
James A. Sauer, President W.F .A lbright Institute of
Eric M. Meyers, First Vice President for ArchaeologicalR esearch( AIAR).
Publications P. O. Box 19096, 91 190 Jerusalem,I srael. OO OF 0=
William G. Dever, Second Vice President SeymourG itin, Director OS
for Archaeological Policy Thomas E. Levy,A ssistant Director o
George M. Landes, Secretary JosephA . Callaway,P resident :
KChevairnle Gs .U O. 'HCaornrnise,l lT, rAesassiustraenr t Secretary JoPyU rensgiderelneti der-MayersonF, irst Vice o. r"I&IL 1 P
Elizabeth B. Moynihan, Chairman of the Carol Meyers,S econd Vice President
Board of Trustees KevinG . O'Connell, Secretary-Theasurer
Susan Wing, Bookkeeper
Stephen M. Epstein, Coordinator of BaghdadC ommittee for the Baghdad
Academic Programs School.
Norma Kershaw, Director of Tours McGuireG ibson, Chairman CyprusA merican Archaeological
Oriental Institute, University of ResearchI nstitute (CAARI).
Chicago, 1155 East 58th Street, Chicago, 41 King Paul Street, Nicosia, Cyprus.
IL6 0637. Stuart Swiny,D irector
Charles U. Harris,P resident
American Center of Oriental Research LydieS hufro,V ice President
ASOR Newsletter; James A. Sauer, Editor (ACOR). Ellen Herscher,S ecretary
Biblical Archaeologist; Eric M. Meyers, P. O. Box 2470, JebelA mman, Amman, AndrewO liver, Jr.,T reasurer
Editor Jordan.
Bulletin of the American Schools of David W.M cCreery,D irector Damascus AdvisoryC ommittee.
Oriental Research;W alterE . Rast, Gough W.T hompson, Jr.,P resident Giorgio Buccellati, Chairman
Editor LawrenceT Geraty,V ice President Center for MesopotamianS tudies,
Journalo f Cuneiform Studies; Erle Nancy Lapp,S ecretary University of California,4 05 Hilgard
Leichty,E ditor Anne Cabot Ogilvy, Treasurer Avenue,L os Angeles, CA 90024.
Biblical Archaeologist
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iblical
Arc ogis
aeo t
A Publication of the American Schools of Oriental Research Volume 49 Number 1 March 1986
4 Sepphoris -"Ornament of All Galilee"
Eric M. Meyers, Ehud Netzer, and Carol L. Meyers
20 The Beehive Buildings of Ancient Palestine
John D. Currid
26 Jews, Christians, and the Gallus Revolt in Fourth-Century
Palestine
BarbaraG eller Nathanson
37 Is Cyprus Ancient Alashiya? New Evidence from an Egyptian
Tablet
Page 4
Shelley Wachsmann
42 Political Conditions in the EasternM editerraneanD uring the
Late Bronze Age
Robert S. Merrillees
51 Three Ancient Seals
Nahman Avigad
54 A Note on the Seal of Peqah the Armor-BearerF, uture King of
Israel
PierreB ordreuil
56 On the Archaeological Evidence for a Coin-on-EyeJ ewish
Burial Custom in the First Century A.D.
William Meacham
59 The Coin-in-Skull Affair: A Rejoinder
Rachel Hachlili and Ann Killebrew
60 "Whose Likeness and Inscription is This?"( Mark 12:16)
L. Y Rahmani
Page 42
2 Introducing the Authors
61 Book Reviews
Biblical Archaeologist is published with the financial assistance of
the Endowment for Biblical Research, a nonsectarian foundation for
Page 51 the study of the Bible and the history of the Christian Church.
BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH 1986 1
the Authors
Introducing
John D. Currid
Eric M. Meyers Carol L. Meyers
Eric M. Meyers, Editor of Biblical Archaeologist, is Professor of
Religion at Duke University. Holding the M.A. from Brandeis
University and the Ph.D. from Harvard University, he has been
excavating in Israel for more than twenty years. He has also
worked in Italy in the catacombs at Venosa. Eric Meyers is
married to Carol Meyers, with whom he has collaborated and
coauthored many articles and books, including their forthcom-
ing Doubleday Anchor Bible volume on Haggai and Zechariah
1-8.
Ehud Netzer is a graduate in architecture at Technion Univer-
sity in Haifa and holds a Ph.D. in archaeology from Hebrew
University, where he studied with the late Yigael Yadin. A
member of the faculty of the Institute of Archaeology at
Hebrew University, his areas of special teaching expertise
include field methodology and surveying. He has served as an
archaeologist and architect at many digs in Israel and is a
renowned expert on Herodian architecture and remains. His
digs at Herodium and Jericho have attracted worldwide atten-
tion, and he is presently one of the executive editors of the final
Masada publication.
Carol L. Meyers, Associate Professor of Religion at Duke Uni-
versity, is currently on leave, holding a prestigious Howard
Foundation Fellowship. During this time she is completing a Ehud Netzer
manuscript on women in ancient Israel. She holds the M.A. and
Ph.D. from Brandeis University and has excavated for over
twenty years at sites in Israel and in North America. She has
taught at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, is a
frequent contributor to learned journals, and is a member of the
BA editorial board.
John D. Currid, an Instructor of Religion at Grove City College
in Pennsylvania, is currently completing his Ph.D. at the Uni-
2 BIBLICALA RCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH1 986
Barbara Geller Nathanson Pierre Bordreuil
Robert S. Merrillees
Shelley Wachsmann
versity of Chicago in Syro-Palestiniana rchaeology.H is disserta- In between times he is a diplomat and currently serves-as
tion is a study of IsraeliteI ronA ge storagep ractices.H e has been AustralianA mbassadort o Israel.
a staff member on excavations at Carthagea nd Tell el-Hesi and
he is presently the Director of the LahavG rain StorageP roject. Nahman Avigad studied architecture in Czechoslovakia and
archaeologya nd Bible in Jerusalem.D uring the past fifty years,
BarbaraG eller Nathanson is presently a Mellon Faculty Fellow he has won numerous covetedp rizes in the field of archaeology,
in the Committee on the Study of Religion at HarvardU niver- but he is best known for his recoveryo f Jerusalem'sU pper City.
sity, where she is pursuingr esearcho n the impact of the Chris- He is currently preparinga book on West Semitic seals.
tianization of the Roman Empire on the Jewish and pagan
communities of the fourth and fifth centuries A.D.i n Syro- PierreB ordreuili s Charged e Rechercheo f the Centre National
Palestine. She receivedh er B.A. from Princeton University and de la Recherche Scientifique. A resident of Lebanon, he is a
the Ph.D. in Religion from Duke University, writing her disser- membero f the FrenchA rchaeologicalE xpeditiont o Ras Shamra
tation on the fourth-centuryJ ewish revolt during the reign of and of the Franco-SyrianE xpeditiont o Ras Ibn Hani. He is also
Gallus Caesar.S he has taught courses on Palestine in late antiq- preparing the volume of West Semitic seals for the Corpus
uity at Wellesley College and at Clark University, from which Inscriptionum Semiticarum.
she is currently on leave.
William Meacham is with the Centre of Asian Studies at the
Shelley Wachsmannh as served as the Inspectoro f Underwater University of Hong Kong. Educated at Tulane, the Sorbonne,
Antiquities in the IsraelD epartment of Antiquities since 1976. and the Gregorian,h e has lived in Hong Kongs ince 1970,w here
As the department'sm arine archaeologist, he is responsible, he has conducted a number of excavations for the Hong Kong
togetherw ith his colleague KurtR aveh,f or discovering,r ecord- ArchaeologicalS ociety at Neolithic and historical sites. In 1980
ing, and protecting Israel'sn autical heritage. He received his he began researchingt he Shroudo f Turina nd issues that relate
B.A. and M.A. in Near Easterna rchaeologya t Hebrew Univer- to it.
sity's Institute of Archaeology,w here he is currently working
on his Ph.D., writing a dissertation on seagoing ships and Rachel Hachlili and Ann Killebrewh ave jointly published sev-
seamanshipi n the BronzeA ge Levant.H e has dived extensively eral articles on the Jewishc emeteryo f the SecondT emplep eriod
in the MediterraneanS ea, the Sea of Galilee, and the Red Sea, at Jericho. Hachlili received her Ph.D. in archaeology from
and is the author of numerous articles dealing with ancient HebrewU niversity.K illebrewi s currentlyw orkingo n a graduate
watercrafta nd the results of underwaterw ork. degreei n archaeologya t HebrewU niversity and is the Editorial
Coordinatoro f a new series on historical geographyf or BA.
Robert S. Merrillees is a specialist in the Bronze Age archae-
ology of Cyprus and has long been interested in the ancient L. Y. Rahmani recently retired as Chief Curatoro f State Antiq-
eastern Mediterranean. A graduate of Sydney and London uities with the IsraelD epartment of Antiquities and Museums.
universities, he has published numerous works on Levantine He has done extensive research on many topics, including
antiquity, especially concerning pottery production and trade. tombs and funeraryc ustoms in ancient Israel.
BIBLICALA RCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH1 986 3
SEPPHORIS
by
Eric M. Meyers,
of
Ehud Netzer,
"Ornament
and CarolL . Meyers
All
Galilee"
del looming above the
tree line of the mod-
ern forest.
The location of the
The Sepphoris hill has at least
modern visitor to an- some of the necessary .
cient Sepphoris sees a large characteristics that
irregular hill rising from would make it a likely
the lowlands of Galilee. On place for human habita-
its southern and eastern sides a forest tion-arable lands stretch
of spindly pine trees stretches along around it and its height allows for
the slopes. On the northwestern edge security and self-defense. Only a
a cluster of buildings, including an good source of water on the hill's
orphanage run by Italian nuns and summit is lacking, but the ancient
the towering unroofed walls of a inhabitants worked to overcome
never-completed Crusader church, that liability and made Sep-
huddles against the scarp. The steep phoris - or Sippori as it is known
northern slope has discouraged both today in Hebrew-a city of consid-
natural and man-made cover, but the erable importance in late antiquity.
massive remains of an ancient build-
ing can be seen where the embank- Sepphoris in History
ment has eroded away. Only the top The ruins visible on the northern
N
of the hill remains barren, with the scarp are not the only indications N
exception of the ever-present ground of the site's long history. Sep-
cover of thorns and thistles and a phoris has a literary pedigree that
towering square citadel. is both substantial and broad. The
The citadel, which dates in its Jewish historian Josephus provides Twos mall bronzef igurines, depicting charac-
tersf rom classical mythology,w ere discovered
present form to the end of the nine- the earliest literary attestation of in a cistern in area 84.1. The identity of the
teenth century, rests on foundations Sepphoris (Jewish Antiquities statuette above is uncertain but it may be a
laid during the Byzantine period and 13.2.5-see Marcus 1961: 397). He young satyr with donkey'so r goat's ears. The
figure is seated on an object that may be a
possibly renovated in the Crusader first mentions the site in reference water skin. He holds a musical instrument in
period around 1200 C.E.( Strange and to Ptolemy Lathyrus' unsuccessful his right hand and in his left is a stylized
Longstaff 1984: 51). It incorporates attempt to capture the city during cluster of grapes. The figurine'sa nimal ears
and musical instrument remind one of the
large ashlar blocks, including several the reign of Alexander Jannaeus young shepherd-godP an.T he son of Hermesi n
sarcophagi from the Roman period, (circa 100 B.C.E.)s;o mewhat later, some traditions, Pan was regularlyd epicted
in its lower courses. The fortress is Gabinius (57-55 B.C.E.)d ivided Pal- partially human but with the horns, ears,
and legs of a goat and his characterw as also
both a landmark and a lookout point. estine into five councils (synedria - "goatish"-full of lust, energy,a nd fertility.
The roof of this three-story building Greek for Sanhedrin) and chose Sep- Like shepherds,h e was a musician and a
(10.50 meters high, or more than 30 phoris as the administrative center wanderero n hillsides. The figurine is 6 centi-
meters high. The other bronzef igurine prob-
feet above ground level) offers a com- of the Galilean one (Jewish Antiq- ably representsP rometheus.H e is depicted in
manding view of the great Sepphoris uities 14.5.4-see Marcus 1961: 495; a position that reflects the myth where he
plain known as Sahl el-Battuaf. From The Jewish War 1.8.5 - see Thackeray has been chained to a rock or pillar by Zeus
to undergoc ontinual tortureb y an eagle that
nearby Nazareth (four miles to the 1956: 79). Thus, by the time of Herod daily tears at his liver, which is regenerated
east) the Sepphoris hill, which rises the Great, Sepphoris was the fore- everyn ight. The stance of the figurine repre-
115 meters from the surrounding most city in Galilee.
plain, is unmistakable with its cita- Josephus calls the site "orna-
4 BIBLICALA RCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH1 986
ment of all Galilee" (Jewish Antiquities warfare. Coins minted for the year
18.2.1-see Feldman 1965: 25) in reference 67/68 bear the legend Eirenopolis,
to the building program carried out there "City of Peace." Note also the report
by Herod Antipas early in the first cen- in Josephus' The Jewish War (3.30-
tury C.E.A ntipas himself called the city 32), which reads:
"Autokratis,"w hich possibly indicates FromA ntioch Vespasianp ushed on
its role as a capital city with self- to Ptolemais [Akko,w hich is on the
autonomy. Although it lost some coast]. At this city he was met by
the inhabitants of Sepphorisi n Gal-
prestige when Antipas shifted
ilee, the only people of that prov-
his northern base to
ince who displayed pacific senti-
Tiberias, it again became
ments. For,w ith an eye to their own
capital of Galilee under
security and a sense of the power of
the procurator Felix Rome, they had already,b efore the
'b:f~Pp (52-60 C.E.). coming of Vespasian,g iven pledges
Another to Caesennius Gallus, received his
ancient desig- assurance of protection, and admit-
nation of ted a Roman garrison; now they
offered a cordial welcome to the
Sepphoris pro-
vides insight into commander-in-chief,a nd promised
its political role in Roman Palestine.
The city is said to have taken a paci-
fistic stand in the First Jewish Revolt Below: View of the citadel. Also called a fort
(66-70 c.E.), with its citizens unwill- or fortress, this square building (14.95 meters
ing to oppose Rome. Josephus con- square) is the most prominent structure at
Sepphoris and can be seen from as far away as
tends that he himself led two sepa- Nazareth, several miles to the east. According
rate attacks against the recalcitrant to the finds made by the team from the Uni-
versity of South Florida in 1983, the citadel's
Sepphoreans (Thackeray 1961: 33 and
foundations date to the Byzantine period but
137-39). The city coins of Sepphoris it has been rebuilt many times. Most of the
verify its reluctance to engage in present cornerstones are rubble-filled Roman
sarcophagi that were probably incorporated
into the building during Byzantine or Cru-
sader times. Most of the upper courses of
stones were also taken from other buildings
or cemeteries and reused for the citadel. The
most recent rebuilding took place in the late
nineteenth century during the reign of Abdul
Hlamid (1846-1909). An inscription dating to
that period states that the building was to be
used for educational purposes, and in 1931
the University of Michigan expedition found
it still in use as a schoolhouse by the local
villagers.
N
sents Prometheus bound to a pillar with his
hands free and spread. The left hand points
downward Landt he right one is rLaiseda nd
turn ed toward his chest. PrometheuZs' right leg
is raised and supports thei eagle. The figurine
is finely modeled in ai style
and is 7.5 Ghirgehc.o -Roma(cid:127)n
centimzeters
BIBLICALA RCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH1 986 5
their active support against their At any event, some of the fomenters at Sepphoris for most of the period
countrymen. (Thackeray1 956:5 85) of the second war against Rome in between the two wars. Although
The fact that the name of Vespasian the time of Bar Kokhba were citizens there is a fifteen-year cessation of
appears on the Sepphoris coins just of Sepphoris. The notion that the coinage right before the second re-
one year before he became emperor citizens of Sepphoris constituted a volt, attributing such a gap to the
tends to corroborate Josephus' claims major cause of the second war, how- existence of rebellious factions in
about the pro-Roman stance of the ever, is to be questioned. Judeo- Sepphoris must also be questioned.
local population. The inhabitants of Roman coins continued to be minted One of the factors that cast
Sepphoris apparently added the
future emperor's name to the coin
legend on their own initiative and
not on the orders of a high official.
Important Dates
A similar action was undertaken by
the officials of Caesarea Maritima
in the History of Sepphoris
who also put Vespasian's name on
their coin mints in anticipation of
Date Event
Vespasian's ascent to the throne.
If Sepphoris was pacifistic during circa 100 B.C.E. Ptolemy Lathyrus unsuccessfully attacks Sepphoris on a
the first revolt, it may have changed Sabbathd uringt he reign of the Hasmonean ruler Alexan-
der Jannaeus.
its course of action by the time of
57-55 B.C.E. Gabinius, the proconsul of Syria, makes Sepphorist he seat
the second revolt (132-135 C.E.). of one of the five synedria (orh igh courts).
Perhaps its population was enlarged
39-38 B.C.E. Herodt he Greata ttacks Sepphorisi n a snowstorma nd takes
after the first war by refugees from it from Antigonus.
more nationalistic Jewish centers. 4 B.C.E. Judas,s on of Ezekias, leads a revolt and invades the royal
arsenal at Sepphoris.V arus, the Roman legate of Syria,
retaliatesb y destroyingt he city and selling its inhabitants
into slavery.
3 B.C.E. Herod Antipas rebuilds the city into "the ornament of all
Galilee" and calls it Autokratis. Sepphoris becomes the
capital of Galilee and Perea.
19 C.E. HerodA ntipas moves his capitalto Tiberias.
circa 54 c.E. Under the procuratorF elix, Sepphoriso nce again becomes
the capital of Galilee.
66 c.E. During the first Romanr evolt the residents of Sepphorisa re
reluctantt o fight and eventually take a pro-Romans tance.
67-68 c.E. Sepphorisi ssues Eirenopolis ("Cityo f Peace")c oins.
117-139 C.E. During Hadrian'sr eign the city is apparently known as
Diocaesarea. A Capitoline temple is functioning at the
site.
circa 200 C.E. RabbiJ udahH aNasi moves to Sepphorisw here he lives for
seventeen years and completes the codification of the
Mishnah.
308 c.E. A martyrdom of Christians may have taken place in
Sepphoris. (A Syriac text of Eusebius is not clear on the
location.)
306-337 c.E. During Constantine the Great'sr eign, Josephuso f Tiberias
r receives permission to build a church in Sepphoris.
c
U 351-352 c.E. A revolt, which began in Sepphoris,i s crushed by Gallus.
6
crJ 363 c.E. A majore arthquakeo ccurs in the area.
rSu 374 c.E. Emperor Valens exiles some Nicean Christians to the
a:- ? Sepphorisa rea.
451 c.E. A bishop of Sepphorisa ttends the council of Chalcedon.
Aerial view of the twelfth-century Crusader 518 c.E. Bishop Marcellinus attends a Jerusalems ynod and rebuilds
church of Saint Anna. The church was left
unfinished for unknown reasons. In Crusader a Sepphorisc hurch.
times Sepphoris, known as Le Sephorie, was a 570 c.E. Antony of Piacenza, a pilgrim, visits a Sepphoris church
fortress and city in the principality of Galilee. associated with Mary.
6 BIBLICALA RCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH1 986
doubt upon the rebellious nature of BarbaraG eller Nathanson's article
Sepphorisi s the extremely positive was once in this issue of BA.)
way in which Jewish-Romanr elations Sepphoris The importance of Sepphorisi n
in Sepphorisa ppearf or the genera- calledD iocaesarea. the history of Palestine is matched
tions following the revolt of 132 to by its centrality in religious tradition.
135 C.E. The best example of this is Indeed, the role Sepphorisp layed in
found in the coinage of the emperor the religious and spiritual develop-
Caracalla (also known as Antoninus, ment of ancient Judaismi s undoubt-
who reigned from 198 to 217 C.E.) edly part of the dynamics of its in-
minted at Sepphoris.B y this time volvement in political and economic
Sepphorisw as known as Diocaesarea, affairs.A nd Sepphorisw as not only a
and the inscription on the coins pro- pivotal site for Jewish life in the first
vides astonishing testimony to a centuries of the Common Era- early
treaty of friendship between the Christianity found a congenial home
Roman Senate and the Sepphoris in Sepphoris,a nd Roman paganism
Council-the official establishments SSepphos ' was also representedb y the imperial
representingt he two peoples. The Haii Tiberat S officers and bureaucratss tationed in
coins' legends are a variation of the the Galilean capital.
Nazareth
following: "Diocaesareat he Holy
City, City of Shelter, Autonomous, The Peoples of Sepphoris
Loyal( a treaty of) friendship and alli- Literaryr eferences to Sepphoris
ance between the Holy Council and abound in both ancient rabbinicl it-
the Senate of the Roman people." eraturea nd in the writings of the
This numismatic testimony of church fathers. It is clear that in ad-
the early third century to a treaty be- dition to the pagan Roman influence
tween two peoples named in formal found in many easternM editerranean
and official language is unique in the Constans (AE 4, 17 mm) centers, the burgeoningJ ewish life
annals of ancient coins. It demon- in Galilee after the wars with Rome
strates the important political and was well representeda t Sepphoris,
also economic role of Sepphoris. as was the spreadingC hristian pop-
Furthermore,i t indicates that the ulation of Galilee in the periods
municipal council of this Roman both before and after the legalization
provincialc ity was made up of Jewish of Christianity by Constantine and
members. This may be the only in- its adoption as the state religion by
stance in the country in which the Theodosius the Great in the fourth
obverse
members of the council (boule in bust to left century.
Greek)w ere local Jewish residents. reverse Jewish life. Next to Jerusalem,n o city
The Roman policy of investing two soldiers flank standard;i nscription: of the ancient world is mentioned as
the local citizenry with control of GLORIAE XERCITVS(g loryo f the army) frequently in the rabbinic literature
this particulart own ultimately may as Sepphoris.A t the beginning of the
have brought about the downfall of third century aroundt he time, or
Sepphoris. In 351 C.E.t he Jews of Late Roman ruler of Constantinian perhaps a little later than, the Judeo-
Palestine once more rose up against family (AE4 , 15 mm) Roman coins under Caracallaa p-
the Romans. During the reign of pear, the city was the seat of Rabbi
Constantius II (337-361 C.E.), oppo- Judah HaNasi (also known as Judah
sition to the local sovereignty of the Prince or Patriarch). Rabbi Judah
Gallus Caesar began at Sepphoris. is famous in Jewish religion and lit-
The Jews of the city overcame the erary history as the codifier or
Roman soldiers garrisoned there, and redactor of the Mishnah-the core of
their leader - a man named Patricius the Talmud (that is, the commentary
-took charge. The Romans, under on the Mishnah that was edited in
obverse
Ursicinus, marched on Sepphoris and bust to right Palestine around 400 C.E.a nd in
ended the brief uprising but did not reverse Babylon around 500 C.E.)H. is presence
end the Jewish presence at the site. wreath;i nscription within: at Sepphoris for seventeen years
VOTX X MVLTX XX
(For more on the Gallus revolt, see coincided in part with the location
BIBLICALA RCHAEOLOGIST/MARCH1 986 7
Constantius II(AE centenionalis, 23 mm) Herod I (AEh adris [8 prutot], 25 mm)
__- Preliminary
uring the first season of excavationa
total of 134 coins, which have now
been preliminarilyc leaned and inspected,
was unearthedb y the JointS epphorisP roj-
ect. Twenty-six are so broken, worn, or
corroded that they are beyond recogni-
tion. A large number of the coins (forty-
six) are Romanb ronzes dating to the first
SS
AiilvP half of the fourth century C.E.,b ut more
precise identification is difficult because
of their poor state of preservation.
Two coins are silver and at least two
? . -- - more are made of a very debased silver
& .
called billon. Unfortunately the prove-
nance of one of the silver coins, which was
the earliest coin from the season (dating
to the reigno f Ptolemy II),i s questionable.
The rest of the coins arem ade of bronzeo r
brass.
Five of the coins were struck under
obverse obverse
the Jewish kings of the Second Temple
bust to right tripodw ith crown;i nscription:B ACIAEQC
reverse HPQAOY(K ingH erod) period. A large bronze coin of AgrippaI I
soldier spearsf allen horseman;i nscription: reverse carries the portrait of Vespasian, under
FELT EMPR EPARATIO(t he happinesso f the incense burnerw ith two palm branches whom Agrippar uled.
time is restored) and star above Coins minted duringt he reignso f the
emperors Caracalla, Elagabalus,a nd Tre-
TreboniusG allus (AR antoninianus, 22, AgrippaI I (AEl arge, 27 mm) bonius Gallus represent talmudic Sep-
mm)
phoris.I nterestingly,t he coin of Caracalla
was the only coin discovered that came
from Sepphoris,w hich had its own mint
beginning in 68 C.EI. t depicts a tetrastyle
temple on its reverse. The coin, which
P was identified by YacakovM eshorero f the
_.I '?~ 'u Israel Museum, is in extremely poor con-
c
-I dition. The Elagabalusc oin was also a Pal-
. estine issue and may have been struck at
Akko, located on the nearby Mediterra-
nean coast.
I.L4 ;?(cid:127)J (cid:127) AlexanderJ annaeus( AEp rutah, 16 mm)
?` ~~,
c AU
E
c
.. ??~
. C. , c~ rV ~c
obverse obverse
obverse bust (of Vespasian)t o right upside down anchor;i nscription:
radiateb ust to right reverse BACIAEQCA AEEANDPOY(K ingA lexander)
reverse Tyche (goddess)w ith cornucopiaa nd barley reverse
Junos eated;i nscription: ears; inscription:E TOYK SBAA 1PIHlA star in wreath; Hebrewi nscription:" Yonatan
IVNONIM ARTIALIS(J unot he Warlike) (year2 6 of King Agrippa) ha melech"( Jonathant he King)
8 BIBLICALA RCHAEOLOGISTM ARCH 1986