Lot 49
Judaea, Bar Kokhba Revolt. Silver Zuz (3.15 g), 132-135 CE. Year 1 (132/3 CE). 'Eleazar the priest' (Paleo-Hebrew), jug with handle; at right, willow branch. Rev. 'Year one of the redemption of Israel' (Paleo-Hebrew), grape bunch with branch and small leaf. (Mildenberg 1 (O1/R1); TJC 219; Hendin 1374). Overstruck on a denarius of Trajan, with legend and portrait on host coin partially visible. Choice very fine. Estimate $20,000UP
Purchased privately from H. Kriendler, March 1990.
The silver zuzim of the Bar Kokhba War were regularly overstruck on Roman imperial denarii and provincial drachms from Cappadocia and Bostra that had been captured by the rebels from the invading Roman forces. The types seem to be influenced by the bronze pruthot of the earlier Jewish Revolt (66-73 CE) which featured an amphora and a vine leaf. The zuzim of the Bar Kokhba War mirror this typology by depicting a one-handled jug on the obverse and a grape bunch on the reverse, and those of the first year of the war (132/3 CE) are especially notable because they name "Eleazar the priest," a mysterious figure who disappears from the coins in the subsequent years of issue except for some mules. It is often suggested that he is none other than Rabbi Eleazar of Modein, an uncle of Simon bar Kokhba who seems to have lent his religious authority to the cause of war against the Romans. Later, after having begun doubting his actions and planning to surrender to the forces of Hadrian, Bar Kokhba reportedly kicked him to death.
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