MONEY
salem
were
more
probably
those
of
Darius
Hystaspis
<B.o.
522-485),
who
struck
two
coins,
the
daric
in
gold,
and
the
sigloB
or
siklos
(from
shekel)
in
silver.
The
daric
was
a
light
shekel
of
130
grains
—
7
grains
heavier
than
our
'sovereign'
—
worth
twenty-one
shillings
sterling.
The
slglos
was
really
a
half-shekel
of
86i
grains,
equal
therefore
to
Ath
of
the
daric,
on
the
ten-
shekel
basis
set
forth
in
§
1,
or
a
traction
more
than
a
shilling.
In
several
passages
of
Chron.,
Ezr.,
and
Neh.
the
RV
has
substituted
'darics'
for
AV
'drams'
(1
Ch
29',
Ezr
2"',
Neh
7'™-
etc.).
But
there
are
valid
reasons
(see
"Money'
in
Hastings'
DB
ill.
421)
for
retaining
the
older
rendering
in
the
sense,
not
of
coins,
but
of
weights.
On
the
other
hand,
since
Nehemiah
was
a
Persian
ofBcial,
the
'forty
shekels
of
silver'
of
Neh
5"
may
be
Persian
sigloi,
although
they
may
with
equal
probabiUty
be
regarded
as
shekels
of
the
usual
Phoenician
standard.
There
is,
of
course,
no
question
of
the
Jewish
community
striking
silver
coins
of
their
own,
this
jealously
guarded
right
being
then,
as
always,
'the
touchstone
of
sovereignty.'
In
this
period,
however,
the
wealthy
commercial
cities
on
the
Phoenician
seaboard
—
Aradus,
Sidon,
Tyre,
and
others
—
acquired
the
right
of
issuing
silver
coins,
which
they
naturally
did
on
the
native
standard.
The
effective
weight
of
these
shekels
or
tetradrachms,
as
they
are
usually
termed,
averages
about
220
grains,
a
few
grains
short
of
the
normal
224.
These
coins
have
a
special
interest
for
the
Bible
student,
from
the
fact
that
they
are
the
numismatic
representatives
of
'the
shekel
of
the
sanctuary,'
which
is
prescribed
in
the
Priests'
Code
as
the
monetary
unit
of
the
post-exilic
community
(see
Lv
27*
'all
thy
estimations
shall
be
according
to
the
shekel
of
the
sanctuary').
In
Ex
30''
and
elsewhere
this
shekel
is
said
to
consist
of
20
gerahs,
which
the
Greek
translators
identified
with
the
small
silver
obol
of
the
Gr.
coinage,
20
of
which
yield
a
shekel
of
224
grains.
Moreover,
it
is
repeatedly
stated
in
the
Talmud
that
'all
payments
according
to
the
shekel
of
the
sanctuary
are
to
be
made
in
Phoenician
currency
'
(Mishna,
Bekhoroth,
viii.
7).
For
the
mode
of
payment
of
the
half-shekel
tax
for
the
Temple
services
see
§
7.
4.
Money
in
the
period
from
Alexander
to
the
Maccabees.
—
Alexander's
conquest
of
Syria
was
naturally
followed
by
the
introduction
of
his
coinage
in
gold,
silver,
and
bronze.
On
his
death,
Ptolemy
i.
established
himself
in
Egypt,
to
which
he
soon
added
Palestine.
During
the
following
century
(b.c.
301-198)
the
Jews
had
at
their
command
the
coins
of
the
Ptolemaic
dynasty,
struck
at
Alexandria
on
the
Phoenician
standard,
as
well
as
those
of
the
flourishing
cities
on
the
Mediterranean.
The
tribute
paid
by
the
Jews
to
the
third
Ptolemy
did
not
exceed
the
modest
sum
of
20
talents
of
silver,
or
circa
£4360.
In
B.C.
198
Antiochus
in.
wrested
Palestine
from
the
Ptolemys.
Now
the
Seleucids
had
continued
Alexander's
silver
coinage
on
the
Attic
standard,
the
basis
of
which
was
the
drachm
of,
originally,
67
grs.,
but
the
effective
weight
of
the
Syrian
drachms
and
tetradrachms
of
this
period
is
slightly
below
this
standard,
and
may
be
valued
at
lid.
and
3s.
8d.
respectively.
The
drachms
(To
5",
2
Mac
41'
12*0
and
talents
(6000
drachms)
of
the
Books
of
Maccabees
are
to
be
regarded
as
on
this
Syrian-Attic
standard.
5.
The
first
native
coinage:
the
'problem
of
the
'shekel
of
Israel'
—
In
b.c.
139-138
Antiochus
Sidetes
granted
to
Simon
Maccabaeus
the
right
to
coin
money
(see
1
Mac
15").
'The
thorniest
question
of
all
Jewish
numis-matics,'
as
it
has
been
called,
is
the
question
whether
and
to
what
extent
Simon
availed
himself
of
this
privilege.
A
series
of
silver
shekels
and
half-shekels
on
thePhcenician
standard,
bearing
dates
from
'year
1'
to
'year
5,'
has
long
been
known
to
students.
They
show
on
the
obverse
and
reverse
respectively
a
cup
or
chalice
and
a
spike
of
a
lily
with
three
flowers.
The
legends
in
old
MONEY
Hebrew
letters
on
the
shekels
are:
obv.
'Shekel
of
Israel';
rev.
'Jerusalem
the
holy'
(see
illust.
in
plate
accompanying
art.
'
Money
'
in
Hastings'
DB
iii.
Nos.
14,
15;
Reinach,
Jewish
Coins,
pi.
ii.;
and
more
fully
in
Madden's
Ccdns
of
the
Jews
—
the
standard
work
on
Jewish
numismatics,
67
ft.).
Only
two
alternatives
are
possible
regarding
the
date
of
these
famous
coins.
Either
they
belong
to
the
governorship
of
Simon
Macca-bseus
who
died
b.c.
135,
or
to
the
period
of
the
great
revolt
against
Rome,
a.d.
66-70.
The
latest
presentation
of
the
arguments
for
the
earUer
date
will
be
found
in
M.
Theodore
Reinach's
book
cited
above.
It
is
not
a
point
in
his
favour,
however,
that
he
is
compelled
to
assign
the
shekels
of
the
year
5
to
John
Hyrcanus,
Simon's
son
and
successor.
The
present
writer
is
of
opinion
that
the
arguments
he
has
advanced
elsewhere
in
favour
of
the
later
date
(DB
ill.
424
t.,
429
f.)
still
hold
good.
In
this
case
the
earliest
Jewish
coins
will
be
certain
small
bronze
coins
struck
by
the
above-mentioned
Hyrcanus
(b.c.
135-104),
with
the
legend
in
minute
old
Hebrew
characters:
'John,
the
high
priest,
and
the
commonwealth
(or
the
executive)
of
the
Jews.'
The
title
of
'king'
first
appears
on
bronze
coins
of
Alexander
Jannaeus
—
'
Jona-than
the
king'
—
who
also
first
introduced
a
Greek,
in
addition
to
a
Hebrew,
legend.
No
silver
coins,
it
may
be
added,
were
struck
by
any
of
Simon's
successors,
or
even
by
the
more
powerful
and
wealthier
Herod.
The
bronzes
of
the
latter
present
no
new
feature
of
interest.
6.
Money
in
Palestine
under
the
Romans.
—
From
a
numismatic
point
of
view
Judaea
may
be
said
to
have
formed
a
part
of
the
Roman
dominions
from
b.c.
63,
from
which
date
the
Roman
monetary
unit,
the
silver
denarius,
with
its
subdivisions
in
copper,
as
quadrans,
etc.,
was
legal
tender
in
Jerusalem.
Since
the
denarius
was
almost
equal
in
weight
to
the
Syrian-Attic
drachm
(§
4)
—
the
silver
unit
throughout
the
Seleucid
empire
—
the
two
coins
were
regarded
as
of
equal
value,
and
four
denarii
were
in
ordinary
business
the
equivalent
of
a
tetradrachm
of
Antioch.
The
Roman
gold
coin,
the
aureus,
representing
25
denarii,
varied
in
weight
in
NT
times
from
126
to
120
grains.
Since
a
British
'sovereign'
weighs
a
little
over
123
grains,
the
aureus
may
for
approximate
calcula-tions
be
reckoned
at
£1.
Similarly
the
denarius
from
Augustus
to
Nero
weighed
60
grs.
—
our
sixpenny
piece
weighs
43.6
grs.
—
and
was
equal
to
16
copper
asses.
To
reach
the
monetary
value
of
the
denarius
in
sterling
money,
which
is
on
a
gold
standard,
we
have
only
to
divide
the
value
of
the
gold
aureus
by
25,
which
gives
9id.,
say
nine
pence
halfpenny
for
convenience,
or
a
French
franc.
In
addition
to
these
two
imperial
coins,
the
system
based
on
the
Greek
drachm
was
continued
in
the
East,
and
both
drachms
and
tetradrachms
were
issued
from
the
imperial
mint
at
Antioch.
In
our
Lord's
day
Tyre
still
continued
to
issue
silver
and
bronze
coins,
the
former
mainly
tetradrachms
or
shekels
on
the
old
Phoenician
standard
(220-224
grs.).
As
the
nearest
equivalent
of
the
Heb.
shekel
these
Tyrian
coins
were
much
in
demand
for
the
payment
of
the
Temple
tax
of
one
half-shekel
(see
next
§).
Besides
all
these,
the
procurators
issued
small
bronze
coins,
probably
the
quadrans
(i
of
an
as),
from
their
mint
at
Caesarea,
not
to
mention
the
numerous
cities,
such
as
Samaria-Sebaste,
which
had
similar
rights.
7.
The
money
of
NT.
—
This
article
may
fitly
close
with
a
few
notes
on
each
of
the
various
denominations
mentioned
in
NT.
The
currency
was
in
three
metals:
'get
you
no
gold
nor
silver
nor
brass
(copper)
in
your
purses'
(Mt
10'
RV).
Following
this
order
we
have
(o)
the
gold
aureus
here
referred
to
only
indirectly.
Its
value
was
£1
(see
§
6).
(6)
The
silver
coin
most
frequently
mentioned
is
the
Roman
denarius
(AV
and
RV
'penny,'
Amer.
RV,
more
correctly,
'shilling').
