THE EARLIEST KNOWN MENORAH COIN

Two rare coins dating to over 2,000 years ago have been returned to Israel, following a joint law-enforcement operation between Israel and the United States, the Israel Antiquities Authority said in a statement on Tuesday.

One of the coins bears the earliest known depiction of the seven-branched Jewish menorah, along with a showbread table used in the First and Second Temples in Jerusalem. It was minted in bronze in the first half of the first century CE, when the Second Temple was still standing.

The other coin, a 2,500-year-old silver coin most likely minted in the ancient city of Ashkelon, is only the second of its kind known worldwide.

According to the IAA, the coins were unearthed by looters and smuggled abroad. They were set to be sold at auctions in the US but were seized in a joint operation between the IAA Theft Prevention Unit, the Antiquities Trafficking Unit at the Manhattan District Attorney's Office, and US Homeland Security.

The artifacts were handed over during a ceremony in New York on Monday.

 
Coin bearing the earliest known depiction of the Temple's menorah
on one side and the showbread table on the other

"Herod was seen as an usurper, and Mattathias was not only the king, but also the high priest," Kool noted. "These coins were sending a message: ‘I am the king and the high priest, and I'm safeguarding the most precious symbols and the Temple for the Jewish people."

At the time, the Temple was still standing, but, according to Yuval Baruch, a researcher of menorahs and head of the IAA Archaeology Administration, only the priests could approach the candelabra.

"During the time of Mattathias Antigonus, access to the menorah inside the Temple in Jerusalem was limited," he explained in an IAA statement in 2024. "We assume that no one (except the priests themselves) could stand next to the menorah with drafting tools and draw it, but could only look at it from afar. All people could do was imprint the appearance of the menorah in their memory and later — sketch or design it — from memory."

The coin also bears inscriptions in both paleo-Hebrew script and Greek, the former reading "Mattathias the High Priest," and the latter "King Antigonus."

"He was the first to use this double title in two languages," Kool said. "On the one hand, he calls himself the high priest; on the other, he wanted to portray himself as a Hellenistic king, which is not surprising because they lived in a Hellenistic environment, and in Hellenistic culture, it was quite natural to have the high priest and the kingship combined."

 
Silver tetradrachm of Ashkelon

The other coin, returned to Israel in New York, depicts the Greek goddess Athena with her helmet on the obverse and an owl spreading its wings on the reverse, images similar to those on the Athenian silver tetradrachm. It also featured the letters alef and nun in Phoenician script, the first and last letters of Ashkelon, suggesting its origin.

"During the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, Ashkelon was a Phoenician city," Kool said.

Silver tetradrachms weighed about 17 grams. Similar coins were minted in several locations at the time for commercial use.

However, the only other coin of the exact same type known in the world is currently part of the Israel Museum collection.

Also in this case, the coin was not found in an archaeological excavation, but rather acquired by Haim Gitler, chief archaeology curator and curator of numismatics at the Israel Museum, in an auction in 1998.

To read the complete article, see:
2,000-year-old coin with earliest menorah image returned to Israel after seized in US (https://www.timesofisrael.com/2000-year-old-coin-with-earliest-menorah-image-returned-to-israel-after-us-seizure/)

One coin is a small bronze prutah, minted during the reign of the last Hasmonean king, Mattathias Antigonus, who ruled in Jerusalem from 40 to 37 BCE. On one side of the coin appears an image of a seven-branched menorah - one of the earliest artistic representations of the menorah. This is the only Jewish coin with a depiction of the seven-branched candelabrum which stood in the Temple in Jerusalem. The other side of the coin bears a depiction of the showbread table, another sacred object used in the Temple. Antigonus' choice as king and high priest to display distinctly Jewish symbols on his coin probably stemmed from his desire to gain the support of his kingdom's inhabitants as he struggled against his rival Herod, who enjoyed Roman political and military support. Due to its rarity, and as the last coin of Hasmonean independence, this coin type was defined as an item of national importance, and specimens of this coin are prohibited from being exported outside of Israel.

The second coin which returned to Israel Monday is a silver tetradrachm from the Persian period, minted in Ascalon over 2,500 years ago. This is one of the rarest of ancient coins minted in the Land of Israel, and so far, only one other exemplar is known to exist, now in the Israel Museum coin collection. Its design is inspired by the Athenian tetradrachm - the standard currency throughout the Eastern Mediterranean during this period. One side depicts the helmeted goddess Athena, and on the other side an owl facing, spreading its wings. Above the owl in the upper right corner appear the letters "Aleph" and "Nun" in Phoenician script - an abbreviation for the name of its mint 'Ascalon', the first and last letters of the city's name. This extremely rare coin is also prohibited from being exported from the State of Israel due to its rarity.

To read the complete article, see:
Rare coins returned to Israel in international operation (https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/426996)

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