Shekel coin photos by Alex Ringer

 Antique coin images by David Hendin

The history of coinage dates back to the sixth century BCE, when the first coins were struck in the kingdom of Lydia in Asia Minor. They were made of electrum, an alloy of gold and silver, and to a weight standard.  Their function is unknown but may have been to pay mercenaries or for a wider range of standardized payments by and to the state.  Coinage developed in the Greek world of city states, or polis, into a useful form of money as a store of wealth, a measure of value and as a means of payment and exchange. It also probably served to assert civic identity, with each polis stamping standardized lumps of metal with its own individual marks. 

In the age of imperialism, with Macedonia and Rome being among the earlier examples, coins also illuminated the exercise of power. Coins bearing symbols relating to imperial control or ruler portraits created a medium for widespread diffusion of an expression of authority that could be readily understood. In time, coins would be used to carry specific symbolic messages, and as such may be considered as visual and tangible evidence of what in our age would be called propaganda or public relations. 

While the concept of sovereignty in its modern sense was not yet known, it seems that delegating the right to strike coins to a subject city, or client state, illustrated the degree of autonomy permitted by the governing power.  According to the First Book of Maccabees, the Seleucid Greek king Antiochus VII conceded the right to coin to the Jews under the Hasmonean ruler Simon (142-134 BCE), although no coinage can actually be attributed to him; coins that have been found bearing the inscription ‘Shimon Prince of Israel’ are now known to refer to Bar Kochba, who lived some two hundred years later.  However when the Hasmonean high priest John Hyrcanus I (135-104 BCE) felt sufficiently secure and independent from a rapidly disintegrating Seleucid empire, he became the first Jewish ruler to strike coinage and thereby spread the word that there now was an independent Jewish state in the land of Israel. 

Hyrcanus and those of his Hasmonean successors known to have struck coins (Aristobolus I, Alexander Jannaeus and Mattathias Antigonus) all minted bronze coinage only. There are various reasons why they refrained from using silver or gold, but one of them may have been to reach the maximum number of people by use of low value tokens. Each ruler selected a number of symbols in order to get his message across, and some of these symbols were borrowed from coinage already in circulation, perhaps in order to establish confidence in known symbols of authority. The symbols were then given uniquely distinguishing features and an inscription added to the coin which included the Jewish name of the ruler responsible.

These symbols included a single or double cornucopia (horn of plenty), a lily, a palm branch, a helmet, a wreath, an anchor, a royal diadem, a star, the shrewbread table from the Temple and a menorah. 

The modern state of Israel, like every other country, has issued several series of token coins in non-precious metal that proclaim its independence and sovereignty by use of symbols associated with its history and culture. The series presently in circulation includes three coins which recognize and recall the Maccabees/Hasmoneans who, in the second century BCE, fought for independence and established a sovereign state of the Jewish people. While this state survived for barely a hundred years, it served as an inspiration for the reestablishment of a Jewish state in our time. 

At the season of Chanukah it is therefore appropriate to take a closer look at these three coins. 

One-shekel  

The modern one-shekel coin bears on the obverse the symbol of a lily, together with the legend YHD (Judah) in paleo-Hebrew. There are numerous mentions of the lily in the Bible, the Mishna and ancient literature, including in descriptions of the decorative work on Solomon’s temple. Archaeology has produced examples from throughout the first and second temple periods. Although the style of the lily on the one-shekel coin has been copied from a coin from the 4^th century BCE Persian period, the lily symbol was used by both John Hyrcanus I and by Alexander Jannaeus (104-76 BCE) on some of their coin issues: 

Persian period YHD coin: Alexander Jannaeus type 

Two-shekels  

The obverse of the modern two-shekel coin shows a double cornucopia, brimming over with wheat sheaves and grapes, and between them a pomegranate. This has been copied directly from a coin of John Hyrcanus I.  The cornucopia was an attribute of Demeter, goddess of the earth’s fertility in Greek mythology. She was depicted as holding a single cornucopia from which bunches of grapes, sheaves and poppies burst forth. Drugs produced from the poppy were used for celebrations in her honor, and earlier scholars made this association in assuming that the symbol on the Hyrcanus coin was also a poppy.  However careful study has made clear that the fruit is a pomegranate.  While all the Hasmonean rulers adopted this pagan cornucopia symbol on their coinage, the double cornucopia facing one another and connected at the bases is an original Jewish Hasmonean creation. One might conjecture that the composition and addition of the pomegranate was intended to give Jewish significance and perhaps to signify Judah as a land of plenty under Hasmonean rule.  

John Hyrcanus I type

Ten-agorot  

Our lowest value modern coin bears the menorah symbol. The menorah underwent many transfigurations since the time when it was first designed for the Tabernacle, as described in the Book of Exodus. The rendering we know today was apparently fixed during the second temple period, and the last of the Hasmonean rulers, Mattathias Antigonus (40-37 BCE) portrayed it on one of his coins, possibly when he was under siege in Jerusalem by Herod the Idumean. Perhaps he meant it as a sort of call to the people to protect the nation’s sacred objects from the man supported by the Romans. The menorah coin of Antigonus is extremely rare and collectors will pay almost any sum to get their hands on a genuine example. This coin was the inspiration for the modest 10-agora piece:   

Mattathias Antigonus type

Not all of the Hasmonean symbols show up on Israeli coins presently in circulation and not all modern Israeli coins bear Hasmonean symbols. But some of the ‘Chanukah gelt’ you hand out to the children has more significance than you perhaps realized.