The Coinage of Jaffa in the Roman Period more

17 2009–10 STUDIES IN HONOUR OF ARNOLD SPAER Edited by: DAN BARAG AND BOAZ ZISSU THE ISRAEL NUMISMATIC JOURNAL VOL. 17 JERUSALEM 2010 ISRAEL NUMISMATIC JOURNAL FOUNDED BY L. KADMAN Editorial Board: D. Barag, B. Zissu (editors), H. Eshel, R. Barkay, A. Spaer. Style and Copy Editor: D. Stern The publication of this issue was made possible by the generous contribution of the Leo Mildenberg Memorial Bequest. All correspondence, papers for publication and books for review should be addressed to: Israel Numismatic Journal, c/o Dr. Boaz Zissu, Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, Bar Ilan University, Ramat Gan, 52900, Israel, or to bzissu@gmail.com Copyright © The Israel Numismatic Journal The editors are not responsible for opinions expressed by the contributors. ISSN 1565-4079 Distributed by Israel Exploration Society, P.O.B. 7041, Jerusalem 91070, Israel. Page layout by Avraham Pladot Typesetting by Marzel A.S. — Jerusalem Printed by Old City Press, Jerusalem, Israel ISRAEL NUMISMATIC JOURNAL VOLUME 17 CONTENTS 9 11 15 34 39 48 59 77 88 91 98 106 113 DAN BARAG AND BOAZ ZISSU: A Tribute to Arnold Spaer A Bibliography of Arnold Spaer CATHARINE LORBER Hoard AND 2009–10 ARTHUR HOUGHTON: An Early Seleucid Bronze DAVID HENDIN: Hasmonean Coin Chronologies: Two Notes R ACHEL B ARKAY: The Coinage of the Nabataean King Malichus I (59/58–30 BCE) Z OHAR A MAR : The Shewbread Table on the Coins of Mattathias Antigonus: A Reconsideration YOAV FARHI, URI DAVIDOVICH, YUVAL GADOT, Ramat Ra¢el Hoard of Tyrian Shekels AND ODED LIPSCHITS: The YINON SHIVTIEL, BOAZ ZISSU, AND HANAN ESHEL: The Distribution of Coins of the Jewish War against Rome in Galilee and Phoenicia RONNY REICH: A Note on Coins from the First Revolt against Rome Discovered at Carnuntum, Austria HANAN ESHEL, BOAZ ZISSU, AND GABRIEL BARKAY: Sixteen Bar Kokhba Coins from Roman Sites in Europe ROI PORAT, EHUD NETZER, YAªAKOV KALMAN, AND RACHEL CHACHY: Bar Kokhba Coins from Herodium (Hebrew University Expedition) DAN BARAG: Halved Bronze Coins from the Bar Kokhba War BOAZ ZISSU, HANAN ESHEL, BOAZ LANGFORD AND AMOS FRUMKIN: Coins from the Bar Kokhba Revolt Hidden in Meªarat Ha-Teºomim (Mughâret ™ Umm et Tûeimîn), Western Jerusalem Hills R OBERT D EUTSCH : A Note on a Medallion of Antoninus Pius from Neapolis: The Largest Medallion Minted in Palestine AVNER ECKER: The Coinage of Jaffa in the Roman Period 148 151 177 187 198 206 213 233 238 YOAV FARHI: City Coins from Roman Palestine Made of Lead and Comparable Materials EITAN KLEIN: The Hercules Relief (Oscillum?) from Khirbet el-Karmil Reconsidered D. M. METCALF: Some Byzantine Lead Seals of Scholastici ALLA KUSHNIR-STEIN: Four Inscribed Lead Weights from the Collection of Arnold Spaer NIKOLAUS SCHINDEL AND WOLFGANG HAHN: Imitations of Sicilian Folles of Constantine IV from Bilad al-Sham NITZAN AMITAI-PREISS AND YOAV FARHI: A Small Assemblage of Lead Sealings, Weight and Coins from the Early Islamic Period D AN B ARAG : A Hoard of Amalricus I Deniers from the Vicinity of Bethlehem Obituary: Dan P. Barag Obituary: Hanan Eshel Obituary: Silvia Mani Hurter LIST OF ADDRESSES OF AUTHORS ABBREVIATIONS 246 248 251 253 255 The Coinage of Jaffa in the Roman Period* AVNER ECKER IN 1985 Arie Kindler published a superb summary of all known coin types minted in ancient Jaffa, from the Hellenistic period to modern times.1 Over the past twenty-five years, the types of Jaffa coinage have remained as set forth by Kindler. It is the purpose of this article to provide an updated survey of Roman coin types from the Jaffa mint based on published material and an examination of coins collections at the Israel Museum (Jerusalem), the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University (Jerusalem) and the Kadman Numismatic Pavilion of the Eretz Israel Museum (Tel Aviv).2 1. JAFFA: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Ancient Jaffa, set on a hill jutting into the sea, served in various periods as an important Judaean port. The city is first mentioned in Egyptian annals on the walls of the temple of Amon in Karnak as one of the cities conquered by Thutmose II in the fifteenth century BCE (city no. 63 on the list).3 Many archaeological finds from the Bronze and Iron Ages were found on the Jaffa tell, indicating its prominence as a coastal town in those eras.4 During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries BCE Jaffa is mentioned in the Harris papyrus, in the El-Amarna letters and in papyrus Anastasi I.5 In 701 BCE it is mentioned in the Prism of * 1 2 3 4 5 This article is based on a paper written for Dr. Rachel Barkay in the MA course “City Coins” at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I thank Dr. Barkay and Prof. Dan Barag for all their help in writing the paper and for providing me with the opportunity to publish it here. I also thank Robert Kool for reading an earlier version of the manuscript and giving me a great deal of advice, and Yoav Farhi for reading the manuscript, pointing me towards further material and helping me complete the paper in its present form. All conclusions and mistakes are, of course, my own. A. Kindler: The Coins of Jaffa, Israel: People and Land 2–3 (Haaretz Museum Yearbook 20–21) (1985), pp. 21–36, 8* (Hebrew) For access to these collections and photographs and for permission to publish, I thank Prof. Dan Barag, Yoav Farhi and Daphna Tsoran of the Hebrew University, Haim Gitler of the Israel Museum and Cecilia Meir of the Kadman Numismatic Pavilion. All have very kindly shared their time and knowledge with me. J. Kaplan: The Archaeology and History of Tel-Aviv-Jaffa, Tel Aviv, 1959, p. 51 (Hebrew). Ibid., pp. 37–74; J. Kaplan: Jaffa, in NEAEHL, vol. 2, Jerusalem, 1993, pp. 656–657; Z. Herzog: Jaffa, in NEAEHL, vol. 5, Jerusalem, 2008, pp. 1791–1792. For a detailed description of Bronze and Iron Age sources on Jaffa, see J. Kaplan: The Archaeology and History of Tel Aviv Jaffa, The Biblical Archaeologist 35 (1972), pp. 66–95 (esp. 77–81). See also: A. Fantalkin and O. Tal: Navigating Between the 151 152 AVNER ECKER Sennacherib (2nd column).6 In the Bible it is mentioned as a town to which the cedars of Lebanon were shipped for the building of the First and Second Temples,7 and as the port city from which Jonah the prophet fled.8 In the Persian period (539–332 BCE) Jaffa, together with other coastal towns of the Land of Israel, was handed to the Phoenicians, as attested by the fifth century BCE inscription on the sarcophagus of Eshmunazar and the fourth century BCE writings of Pseudo-Scylax.9 From then on, numismatic finds accompany the archaeology of Jaffa: Meir recorded twenty-four Persian coins of Straton I (372–358 BCE) and one coin of Straton III (342–332 BCE) found in Kaplan’s excavations.10 Fortifications, monumental walls and remains of the iron industry were unearthed in strata relating to the Persian period.11 In addition, pottery from the period was found on the floors of structures built during the Iron Age, indicative — according to the excavators — of cultural continuity between the eras.12 On the tell itself, Kaplan had uncovered the remains of a large, probably public, Hellenistic-period building,13 containing a dedicatory inscription to Ptolemy IV Philopator (221–204 BCE).14 Recently IAA archaeologists established that during this period the city had expanded down from the mound over the southern and eastern slopes.15 Jaffa first minted coins under Ptolemaic rule (332–198 BCE). The city, site of one of the five Ptolemaic mints operating in Palestine and Phoenicia, struck coins of gold, silver and bronze. Minting ceased under the Seleucids (198–142 BCE).16 Powers: Joppa and its Vicinity in the 1st Millenium BCE. Ugarit Forschungen 40 (2008), pp. 229–276. D. D. Luckenbill: The Annals of Sennacherib (Oriental Institute Publications, no. 2), Chicago, 1924. II Chronicles 2:15; Ezra 3:7. Jonah 1:3. Kaplan (n. 5 above), pp. 86–88; Periplus Scylacis Caryandensis, 104, in C. Müller (ed.): Geographi Graeci Minores, vol. 1, Paris, 1848, p. 79. C. Meir: Coins: The Historical Evidence of the Ancient City of Jaffa, in B. Kluge and B. Weisser (eds.): XII Intenationaler Numismatischer Kongress, Berlin 1997, Akten, vol. 1, Berlin, 2000, p. 123. Kaplan, Jaffa (n. 4 above), pp. 656–659; Herzog (n. 4 above), p. 1792. Y. Arbel and M. Peilstöcker: The Lower City of Jaffa, Qadmoniot 42 (2009), p. 36; Herzog (n. 4 above), p. 1792. A. A. Burke and M. Peilstöcker: Yafo, Kikar Qedumim: Preliminary Report, HA 121 (2009), http://www.hadashot-esi.org.il/report_detail_eng.asp?search=&id=1062& mag_id=115. E. Lupu: A New Look at Three Inscriptions from Jaffa, Jerusalem, and Gaza, Scripta Classica Israelica 22 (2003), pp. 193–202. Arbel and Peilstöcker (n. 12 above), pp. 36–37. The other four were in Gaza, Acre, Tyre and Sidon. See Kindler (n. 1 above), p. 21. 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 THE COINAGE OF JAFFA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD 153 According to the second book of Maccabees, Judas Maccabeus raided the city during this period, around the year 160 BCE.17 His brother Jonathan assailed the city a second time, but it only came under permanent Hasmonean control in 143 BCE when it was conquered by Simeon.18 Many coins of Alexander Jannaeus, including a hoard, were found on the mound of Jaffa and in its vicinity.19 In 63 BCE Pompeius Magnus conquered Jaffa;20 later it fell into the hands of Herod in his war against Antigonus II.21 During the Jewish War of 66 CE the Jewish population of the city rioted. Cestius Gallus soon put an end to the unrest, allegedly by massacring the Jews and burning the city.22 But shortly after he left Judaea, the city revolted once more, and its ships were reportedly engaging in acts of piracy and disturbing Roman shipping. Vespasian therefore recaptured the city and stationed a garrison there.23 Kindler and others suggest that the imperial mint in Rome issued a set of coins commemorating the naval victory over Jaffa.24 Kaplan found remains of a house and perhaps a public building from the first centuries BCE and CE, and a stamped roof tile of the Tenth Legion Fretensis was found in excavations on the mound.25 According to Kaplan, a structure discovered in Area C contained two distinct destruction layers, one that he attributed to Cestius Gallus or Vespasian and the other possibly to Trajan.26 The archaeological evidence suggests that Jaffa did not remain in ruins for long after the Jewish War. Either Vespasian rebuilt it, or the destruction was not as total as described by Josephus. On city coins of Jaffa from the third century CE, it is called Öëáïõéá ³Éüððç, probably because Vespasian had re-founded it as he had ¹ done with Neapolis.27 The re-founding of the city may have entailed the settlement of a pagan population and the appointment of pagans to govern the place.28 Nonetheless Jews certainly returned to the city or continued to live there; in the structure uncovered in Area C a limestone mold used for casting lead weights was found. The mold carried an inscription mentioning an agoranomos by the name of 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 2 Maccabees 12:3–6. 1 Maccabeess 10: 74–76; 12: 33; 13: 11; 14: 5. A. Kindler: The Jaffa Hoard of Alexander Jannaeus, IEJ 4 (1954), pp. 170–185; Meir (n. 10 above), p. 124. Josephus: Jewish War 1.7.7. Ibid., 1.15.4. Ibid., 2.18.10. Ibid., 3.9.2–3. Kindler (n. 1 above), pp. 23–24. Kaplan (n. 3 above), pp. 90–91; Kaplan, Jaffa (n. 4 above), pp. 658–659. Kaplan (n. 5 above), pp. 92–93. G. Alon: The Jews in Their Land in the Talmudic Age, trans. G. Levi, Cambridge, MA, and London, 1984, pp. 143–144. A. Kushnir-Stein: Religious Sensitivities on Palestinian City Coinage, INR 3 (2008), p. 133. 154 AVNER ECKER Judah — indicating not only the presence of Jews in Jaffa but also their holding of civil magistracies.29 The Late Roman/Byzantine necropolis on the hill of today’s Abu Kabir, about 1.4 km east of the ancient city, bears witness to Jaffa’s large Jewish community: of the eighty or so inscriptions there, more than half are Jewish and the rest have no clear ethnic indicator.30 2. PERSEUS, ANDROMEDA AND JAFFA The myth of Perseus is first attested circa 700 BCE in Homer’s Iliad, as Zeus tells of his love for Danae, with whom he had fathered the hero.31 In the same period Hesiod relates how Perseus slew the Gorgon Medusa, after which Chrysaor and the horse Pegasus leaped out of her decapitated body.32 The earliest artistic representations of Perseus (on a Boethian pithos and on a Proto-Attic amphora), from c. 675–650 BCE, depict him as the slayer of the Medusa.33 Andromeda joined the myth cycle about a century later. The earliest evidence of the myth is on a Corinthian black-figure amphora, c. 575–550 BCE, showing Perseus pelting the kçtos with rocks while Andromeda looks on (the figures are labeled with Greek legends).34 The earliest complete account of the episode is in the writings of Pherecydes of Athens (c. 456 BCE);35 this may have served as a basis for Apollodorus’s canonical account in the Bibliotheca (first or second century CE). Andromeda tragedies were written by Sophocles and Euripides, and both strongly influenced artistic representations of the scene in later centuries. In the Roman period, perhaps the most important version of the Perseus myth and the Andromeda episode was published by Ovid in the year 8 CE.36 The common version of this myth appears in Apollodorus’s Bibliotheca:37 Perseus, upon returning from slaying the Gorgon, sees the beautiful Andromeda, 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 J. Kaplan: Evidence of the Trajanic Period at Jaffa, EI 15 (1981), pp. 412–416, 89* (Hebrew); Applebaum suggests separately governed twin communities — Pagan and Jewish -existed within Roman Jaffa: S. Applebaum: The Status of Jaffa in the First Century of the Current Era, Scripta Classica Israelica 8–9 (1985–1988), pp. 138–144. J. J. Price: Five Inscriptions from Jaffa, Scripta Classica Israelica 22 (2003), pp. 215–231. Anna Veronese is currently completing a master’s thesis containing all of these inscriptions, while I am currently writing a master’s thesis on the archaeology of this necropolis. Homer: Iliad, 14.319–20. Hesiod: Theogony, 270–294. D. Ogden: Perseus, London and New York, 2008, pp. 34–37. Ibid., pp. 67–68, fig. 4.1. F. Jacoby: Die Fragmente der griechischen Historiker, Leiden, 1923, vol. 3, fr. 26. Ovid: Metamorphoses, 4.607–5.268. See Ogden (n. 33 above), pp. 69–74; for a list of sources for the Perseus myth, see pp. 149–152. Apollodorus: Bibliotheca, 2.4.3–5. THE COINAGE OF JAFFA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD 155 daughter of Cassiopeia and Cepheus king of Aethiopia, bound to a rock in the sea. Having fallen in love with the maiden, Perseus inquires as to her plight and finds out that her mother angered Poseidon by boasting that she was more beautiful than the Nereids (daughters of Nereus, an ocean god). As punishment Poseidon flooded her country and unleashed a serpentine sea monster (a kçtos) to ravage the land. Andromeda, the royal princess, was then bound to a rock in the ocean, on order of her parents, as an offering to the sea monster in an attempt to placate the gods. Learning this, Perseus makes an offer to King Cepheus: he will kill the monster and save the damsel in return for her hand in marriage. Using the flying boots he received from Hermes and his harpe (a sickle-like sword), he kills the monster and gets the girl.38 Upon freeing Andromeda, Perseus had intended to take her away but he meets resistance from her uncle Phineus (Cepheus’s brother), to whom Andromeda was formerly betrothed. Perseus turns the uncle to stone by showing him the severed Gorgon’s head (which he carries with him in his magical bag, known as a kibisis), and flies away with his bride. After various adventures, eventually all the participants in this episode (including the sea monster) are immortalized as constellations.39 Although the canonical scene of the release of Andromeda takes place on the shores of Aethiopia, it has also been associated with Jaffa. Even today a small cliff protruding from the water off the coast of Jaffa is known as “Andromeda’s Rock”. Avi-Yonah attempts to rationalize the transposition of the myth from Aethiopia to Jaffa by placing its origins in the eighth century BCE, when the Egyptian Nubian dynasty conquered the coast of ancient Israel.40 Others attribute the transposition to the similarity between the name Cassiopeia (Cassiope) and Iope, the ancient name of the city, or the similarity between ending of the word Aethiopia and Iope. These suggestions seem like cases of false etymology or simplistic plays on words.41 One of the myths suggested by Tacitus regarding the origin of the Jews claims that the Jews were of Ethiopian stock and were expelled during the reign of Cepheus.42 It is a matter of debate whether the association between Jaffa and the myth of Andromeda is connected to the Ethiopian descent theory, either by originating it or vice versa.43 Be this as it may, the myth of Perseus and Andromeda was first associated with Jaffa in the fourth century BCE in the Periplus of PseudoScylax: “The city Jaffa: where it is said that Andromeda was exposed to kçtos” 38 39 40 41 42 43 Some art depicts Perseus killing the monster in ways other than stoning, such as by means of the Gorgon’s head. See L. J. Roccos: Perseus, in Lexicon Iconographicum Mythologiae Classicae (LIMC), vol. 7, Zurich, 1994, pp. 343–344 (using the Gorgon’s head: no. 194). Ogden (n. 33 above), pp. 74–77. M. Avi-Yonah: Perseus and Andromeda in Jaffa, Yediot 31 (1967), pp. 203–210. Ogden (n. 33 above), p. 84. Tacitus: Historiae, 5.2.2. M. Stern: Greek and Latin Authors on Jews and Judaism, Jerusalem, 1974, vol. 2, p. 34. 156 AVNER ECKER (the sea monster).44 Strabo (c. 20 CE) repeats this assertion.45 In the first century BCE or early first century CE, Conon the mythographer wrote a rationalized version of the Andromeda story (Perseus takes her from a ship called the Kçtos) and placed it in the sea off the Jaffa coast.46 Pomponius Mela, writing c. 40 CE, tells us that the people of Jaffa kept altars for Cepheus and his brother Phineus and that the enormous bones of the sea monster can be seen there as evidence of the story of Perseus and Andromeda.47 Pliny the Elder mentions that the rock to which Andromeda was bound and her chains can be seen in Jaffa. Josephus himself says the same thing.48 Pliny also writes that the people of the city worship the kçtos and that M. Aemilius Scaurus, in 58 BCE, brought its enormous skeleton with him from Jaffa to Rome to exhibit it in games that he sponsored as aedil.49 Pausanias mentions a spring near Jaffa with blood-red waters, which the locals claim turned that color because in it Perseus cleaned himself of the monster’s blood.50 On Ptolemaic coins minted in Jaffa the harpe, the curved sword used by Perseus, served as the symbol of the city’s mint. City coins from the Roman period bear many elements from the myth on the reverse.51 3. JAFFA COINAGE IN THE ROMAN PERIOD Coins from the First Century BCE Following the shutdown of the Ptolemaic mint, Jaffa did not resume minting for at least 200 years, until no earlier than the first century BCE. Three different types of coins published by De Saulcy, excluded by Kindler from the corpus, may be evidence that Jaffa minted either in the first century BCE or in the first century CE.52 A specimen of one of these types has been located in the numismatic collection of the Hebrew University, and can be confirmed as a Jaffa coin type. This and De Saulcy’s specimen from the Bibliothèque nationale de France are the only evidence of an active mint in Jaffa during this period. This type bears on its obverse a veiled head of Tyche and on its reverse a female figure leaning against a rock, perhaps Andromeda herself. 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 Cf. n. 9. Strabo: Geography, 1.2.35, 16.2.28 (or C759). Stern (n. 43 above), vol. 1, pp. 353–354, no. 145. Ibid., vol. 1, pp. 370–372, no. 152. Pliny: Hist. Nat., 5.69; Josephus: Jewish War 3.9.3. Pliny: Hist. Nat., 9.11. Pausanias: Graciae Descriptio, 4.35.9. Y. Meshorer: City Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis in the Roman Period, Jerusalem, 1985, p. 24; Kindler (n. 1 above), pp. 22, 25–30. F. De Saulcy: Numismatique de la Terre Sainte, Paris, 1874, pp. 176–177. De Saulcy published three types of which two may be excluded on grounds of dubious identification; the third type that has a new specimen, which is discussed here. THE COINAGE OF JAFFA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD 157 Andromeda (Coin 1): A Coin from the First Century BCE This coin (Fig. 1), from the collection of the Institute of Archaeology at the Hebrew University (no. 5934), depicts on its obverse the head of a veiled and turreted Tyche to the right, with no inscription. On its reverse a draped female figure with an exposed right breast leans against a rock, her head and torso to the front, her hips and legs to the right and her arms lifted in the air. Shackles may perhaps be discerned on her wrists. Over the head of the figure are two obscure circles and behind her left shoulder a curved line (perhaps the circles are a hat and the line a pole to which she is tied?). In the field to the right of the figure, the legend ÉÏÐÇ is written clockwise; in the left-hand field, also written clockwise, is ‚‚ ‚ ‚ LÄÉ (year 14) or LÄ (the iota may actually be part of something unclear behind the figure). The letters seem to be somehow carelessly inscribed. The first to publish this coin was Eckhel (a specimen currently in Paris at the Bibliothèque nationale de France, no. FG 134),53 who interpreted the reverse figure as Neptune sitting on a rock and read the legend ÉÏÐÇ and only the numeric Ä on the reverse;54 the coin was then published by Mionnet without any modifications.55 De Saulcy was first to interpret the figure as female and as Andromeda, relying on the popularity of the myth in Jaffa and the supplicant-like outstretched arms, which fit in perfectly with the depiction of Andromeda in ancient art and literature.56 Hill agreed with De Saulcy’s Andromeda interpretation.57 The rock, the shackles, the exposed breast and most of all the position of the young female figure with her outstretched arms fits most ancient depictions of Andromeda, both literary and artistic.58 Kindler excluded the Andromeda coin from the corpus since he doubted the original reading and claimed the specimen had been lost in the 150 years since it was first published.59 He also left out two other coins mentioned by De Saulcy but excluded by Hill (one from the first century BCE and the other from the first century CE).60 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 I thank Dr. Michel Amandry, curator of the collection, for sending me the details and photograph of this coin, with his comments. I. Eckhel: Doctrina numorum veterum, Vienna, 1794, part 1, vol. 3, p. 433. T. E. Mionnet: Description de Médailles Antiques Grecques et Romaines, Paris, 1811, vol. 5, p. 499, no. 68. De Saulcy (n. 52 above), pl. ix, no. 3. G. F. Hill: Catalogue of Greek Coins of Palestine, London, 1914, pp. xxiv–xxv. Ogden (n. 33 above), pp. 69–82; K. Schauenburg: Andromeda I, LIMC, vol. 1, Zurich, 1981, pp. 774–790. Kindler (n. 1 above), p. 30. Ibid., p. 30: a coin depicting Tyche on its obverse and a galley on its reverse (probably a misread Tyrian coin), and a coin supposedly depicting Titus on its obverse and the legend ÉÏÐÇÔÙÍ on its reverse, but no drawing or photograph of which has been published. 158 AVNER ECKER Meir mentioned the specimen in the Hebrew University collection.61 Dan Barag, in the card catalogue for the collection, describes the coin as being from the first century BCE and says the date on it is based on the Pompeian era, beginning with the conquest of the city in 63 BCE. This is a likely suggestion, given that Jaffa was one of the cities granted a form of autonomy by Pompey. The year 14 is thus 51/50 BCE; if the year is 4, then it is 61/60 BCE. The reading of the coin is not entirely clear. The legend on the right side of the reverse is mostly struck out of the flan, and the numerals are written in a rather irregular manner. Accordingly, Meir read it as ÉÏÐÐÅ and Barag as IOÐÐ[ÇC]. My suggested reading, ÉÏÐÇ, is in accord with Mionnet, Eckhel and De Saulcy, who saw the coin in the Bibliothèque nationale. Though the city name is usually spelled ³Éüððç, the spelling ³Éüðç is attested by several ancient Greek sources.62 Coins from the Third Century CE While the first century BCE minting may still be in doubt, the Jaffa mint was certainly active for a short time in the third century CE — starting in the reign of Caracalla (211–217 CE) and then under all emperors up to (and including) Severus Alexander (222–235 CE).63 It is assumed that all obverse types bearing the portrait of Caracalla were struck during his sole reign, since there are no coins in the corpus portraying either Septimius Severus or Geta. The maximum possible range is 211–235 CE, but since twenty-two of the thirty-eight mints in Provincia Palaestina and Provincia Arabia ceased minting upon the death of Elagabalus, the city probably stopped striking coins, as Kindler suggests, around the beginning of Severus Alexander’s reign.64 The Roman coins of Jaffa from the third century CE are all inscribed in Greek and made of bronze. They are very rare, probably because of a short time span of minting and a limited quantity of coins minted therein. In Kaplan’s excavations of the Jaffa tell, only one out of 677 coins was from the Roman city mint of Jaffa.65 Moreover, a check of the IAA databases shows that these coins were found in only four other excavations across the country, and none of them has been published.66 Coins of Jaffa from the early third century are dated only by the names and portraits of the emperors who appear on them. The identical names and similar portraits of Caracalla and Elagabalus are additional challenges to their dating. Obverse legends give the name and title of the figure depicted: the emperor or 61 62 63 64 65 66 Meir (n. 10 above), p. 124 n.12. E.g. Strabo: Geography, 16.2.28. Kindler (n. 1 above), pp. 24, 30. Ibid., pp. 24–25; R. Barkay: The Coinage of Nysa-Scythopolis (Beth-Shean), Jerusalem, 2003, pp. 85, 192. Meir (n. 10 above), p. 123. I thank Robert Kool and Donald T. Ariel for suggesting and running this check for me. THE COINAGE OF JAFFA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD 159 his wife. On the reverse is the name of the city, usually in the genitive case, ÉÏÐÐÇC (³Éüððçò) (e.g. coin 2); or as the full name, ÖËÁÏÕÉÁC ÉÏÐÐÇC (Öëáïõéáò ³Éüððçò) (e.g. coin 3), often abbreviated as ÖË (e.g. coin 5) or ÖËÁ ¹ (coin 21).67 The Coin Types As Kindler has established, there are five reverse types on third-century Roman coins of Jaffa: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Bull Athena Promachos Tyche in her temple Perseus Horse and rider The first three reverse types represent the divine patronage of the city; the others represent specific myths associated with Jaffa. Each type, apart from Tyche, may be linked with the Perseus myth to some extent. Bull (Coins 5, 6, 11, 17 and 22) This scene portrays a muscular bull standing to the right. According to Kindler, the bull appears on the reverses of coins bearing the portraits of Caracalla and Elagabalus. Coin no. 21, published by Kindler as a type of Elagabalus coin (Kindler’s no. 10), was identified by Meshorer as a Severus Alexander coin.68 The Israel Museum collection has a rather defaced coin with the bull on its reverse and a portrait of Macrinus or his son Diadumenianus on its obverse (Israel Museum no. 2615). Rosenberger ascribed this coin to Diadumenianus.69 Thus this type of reverse scene appears throughout the entire time span of minting in Roman Jaffa. Other Roman city coins bearing a bull standing to the right are known only from Canatha, one of the cities of the Decapolis, in the reign of Commodus.70 Kindler suggests that the bull may represent the Egyptian god Apis, whose cult is represented on the coinage of other port cities such as Acre (Isis and Harpocrates), Ascalon (Egyptian-style temple) and Raphia (Isis head). 71 Meshorer connects the bull with the Perseus myth — Perseus sacrificed to Zeus after slaying the sea monster.72 Indeed, according to Ovid’s version of the myth, 67 68 69 70 71 72 Variants and abbreviations are mentioned in the catalogue; see also Kindler (n. 1 above), p. 25. Kindler (n. 1 above), pp. 27–29, nos. 4, 10; Meshorer (n. 51 above), p. 24, nos. 37, 38. M. Rosenberger: City-Coins of Palestine, vol. 2, Jerusalem, 1975, p. 76, no. 6. A. Spijkerman: The Coins of the Decapolis and Provincia Arabia, Jerusalem, 1978, pp. 94–95, nos. 11, 12. Kindler (n. 1 above), p. 27. Meshorer (n. 51 above), p. 24. 160 AVNER ECKER following the release of Andromeda, Perseus sacrifices a calf to Mercury, a cow to Athena and a bull to Zeus.73 The bull does appear on Roman coinage as a sacrificial animal, and being an animal favored by Zeus it may also be a representation of the god himself, not necessarily connected with the Perseus myth.74 Nonetheless, it may allude to the divine descent of Perseus, son of Zeus and Danae.75 Athena Promachos (Coins 3, 16, 19 and 21) This reverse type depicts a helmeted Athena clad in a chiton, holding a shield in one hand (usually the left hand) and a spear in the other. Thus Athena is shown as the warrior who leads men into battle, the patron goddess of Perseus. Kindler notes that apart from a coin of Antipatris (from the reign of Elagabalus),76 this is the only appearance of Athena Promachos on coins of Provincia Palaestina,77 and it may indicate an active cult at Jaffa.78 At the beginning of the twentieth century this was the only known type of Roman-period Jaffa coinage, and Hill had already postulated that the appearance of Athena was related to the myth of Perseus.79 The Athena type is the most common of all reverse types on Jaffa coinage and appears on coins of Caracalla, Elagabalus, Julia Maesa and Severus Alexander. Tyche in Her Temple (Coins 2, 9, 10, 13, 14 and 15) The Tyche of the city is depicted on these coins standing to the front in a short dress holding a long spear or scepter in her left hand. Her right leg rests on the prow of a galley. On some variants she holds a globular object — possibly the protome of the Emperor — in her right hand. As Kindler discerned, a city wall crown can be seen on her head. The goddess is at the entrance to a tetrastyle temple covered by a Syrian arched gable. A variant shows two small figures flanking the goddess between the columns of the temple. Tyche flanked by two figures between the columns of her temple appears on several city coins. On a similar Akko-Ptolemais coin from the reign of Elagabalus, the figures are recognizable as 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 Ovid: Metamorphoses, 4.753–756. A. B. Cook: Zeus, Cambridge, 1925, vol. 1, pp. 567 ff.; K. W. Harl: Civic Coins and Civic Politics in the Roman East A.D. 180–275, Los Angeles and London, 1987, p. 34. I thank Robert Kool for suggesting this connection. Meshorer (n. 51 above), p. 54, no. 152. This type also appears on a coin with an obverse portrait of Salonina, wife of the emperor Gallienus (253–268). It was formerly in the Rosenberger collection and is now in the Israel Museum (no. 2622). The reverse of this coin bears the inscription remnants ENSIS, perhaps to be read as [Caesar]ensis, which could refer to any of numerous Caesareas across the Empire. Rosenberger considered this a Jaffa coin but it is not consistent with other Jaffa coins in date or language; see Rosenberger (n. 69 above), p. 78, no. 13. Kindler (n. 1 above), p. 26. Hill (n. 57 above), pp. xxiv–xxv, 44. THE COINAGE OF JAFFA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD 161 Perseus and Athena.80 Coins of Aelia Capitolina, Sebaste, Neapolis and Diospolis, all bearing the portraits of Caracalla or Elagabalus, also have reverse types of Tyche in her temple with two accompanying figures. In all of them, the figures seem to be of Nike.81 On the back of a Caesarea coin of Herennia Etruscilla (249–251 CE), Tyche is accompanied on the right by a harbor god holding an anchor and on the left by Marsyas.82 In Diospolis, Tyche in her temple, on the reverse of a unique Caracalla year 9 (207/8 CE) coin, is accompanied by three small figures whom Farhi has tentatively interpreted as Demeter or Kore, Serapis and Nike.83 On our Jaffa coin both figures seem to face left. The figure on the right seems to be a male crouched or seated and wearing a triangular hat. The figure on the left may be holding a spear and seems to be looking up; its head appears oddly elongated, perhaps because it is also wearing a hat. These are either two males or a male and female; thus they cannot be Nike. A tempting option is that the cap on the right-hand figure represents the vanishing cap of Hades worn by Perseus, and the spear-bearing figure on the left is Athena, as on the Akko-Ptolemais coin. Another, more likely option is that the triangular hat is a pileus, alluding to the Dioscuri,84 who may be associated with Jaffa (as with other port cities)85 since they were reputed to aid sailors at sea.86 The Dioscuri appear on some early Seleucid reverses of Akko-Ptolemais coins that bear Tyche on their obverse.87 In Tripoli (Phoenicia) the Dioscuri appear on Caracalla coins flanking the goddess Astarte,88 who in this region is closely associated with Tyche.89 On one variant of this coin, below the temple is another building signified by two framed squares with an arch between them. Kindler suggests that this may be the city gate.90 Alternatively, it may be the pediment, or a frontal view of the antae and stairs of the temple itself. On the aforementioned coin from Akko-Ptolemais, below the temple of Tyche there are waves bordering an arcade, above which is a building with a central arch and three columns on each side. These were 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 L. Kadman: The Coins of Akko Ptolemais, Jerusalem, 1961, pp. 79–80, no. 178. Kindler (n. 1 above), p. 26; Y. Meshorer: The Coins of Aelia Capitolina, Jerusalem, 1989, no. 125; Y. Meshorer: Sylloge Nummorum Graecorum: The Collection of the American Numismatic Society, part 6: Palestine-South Arabia, New York, 1981, nos. 994 (Neapolis), 1078 (Sebaste); Y. Farhi: The Coinage of Diospolis (Lod) in the Roman Period, INJ 15 (2003–06), p. 153, nos. 15, 15a. Meshorer (n. 51 above), p. 21, no. 30. Farhi (n. 81 above), p. 148–149, no. 9. I thank Prof. Dan Barag for suggesting that I examine this possibility. Kadman (n. 80 above), p. 64. R. C. T. Parker: Dioscuri, in Oxford Classical Dictionary, 3rd ed., Oxford, 2003, p. 484. Kadman (n. 80 above), no. 47. G. F. Hill: Catalogue of the Greek Coins of Phoenicia, Bologna, reprint by A. Forni, 1965, p. 218, nos. 87–102, pl. XXVII, nos. 18, 19. Kadman (n. 80 above), p. 63. Kindler (n. 1 above), p. 27, no. 2. 162 AVNER ECKER interpreted by Kadman as a quay or bridge, behind which stood the buildings of the city facing the sea.91 Similarly, this Jaffa coin may show city buildings facing the sea, some sort of propylea leading from the harbor up to the acropolis. Tyche in her temple is depicted on coins of Caracalla, Macrinus and maybe Elagabalus as well. Perseus (Coins 4, 8, 12 and 20) Kindler reports a single coin showing Perseus on its reverse. On this coin, from the reign of Caracalla, Perseus is depicted standing to the right; he holds the head of Medusa in his left hand and the harpe in his right.92 On his feet he wears the winged boots given to him by Hermes, and on his head he wears a Phrygian cap, probably representing the vanishing cap of Hades; his kibisis, the bag in which he carried the head of Medusa, is slung across his chest. Upon re-examination of numismatic collections, three more coins of this reverse type emerged, with different portraits on their obverses: one type has a portrait of Julia Domna (193–217 CE), the second a portrait of Julia Paula (219–220 CE) and the third Macrinus (217–218 CE).93 These coins generally bear the same depiction of Perseus. On the coins of Julia Domna and Julia Paula the hero holds Medusa’s head in his right hand and the harpe in his left. Reverse types bearing Perseus occur in Roman Palaestina/Phoenicia only on coins of Akko-Ptolemais from the reigns of Caracalla and Elagabalus.94 An Alexandrian coin from year 24 of Antoninus Pius (160/1 CE) displays on its reverse Perseus wearing a Phrygian cap and a harpe over the shoulder, extending his hand to help Andromeda step down from a rock; the sea monster is schematically depicted beneath them.95 Three specimens of the Julia Domna/Perseus type are known. One is in the Bank of Israel collection (no. 1–755) and was published by Barkay.96 An unpublished specimen is in the Israel Museum collection (no. 8986). The third and clearest specimen is mentioned by Farhi and is in the Sofaer collection.97 Farhi read the specimen in the Sofaer collection and showed the legend to be in the 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 Kadman (n. 80 above). Kindler (n. 1 above), pp. 27–28, no. 5. Y. Meshorer and G. Bijovsky: Coins of the Holy Land: The Abraham D. Sofaer Collection at the American Numismatic Society, New York, forthcoming, Joppa, no. 25, pl. 44. I wish to thank Ms. Gabrierla Bijovsky for showing me the Jaffa coinage from the Sofaer collection. I thank also Dr. Abraham D. Sofaer, Dr. Ute Wartenberg-Kagan and Dr. Muserref Yetim for sending me a photo of the coin and permitting its publication here. Kadman (n. 80 above), nos. 136 (Caracalla), 161 (Elagabalus); Kindler (n. 1 above), pp. 26–27. J. G. Milne: Catalogue of the Alexandrian Coins, Oxford, 1971, nos. 2421, 2422, 5435. R. Barkay: Rare and Unpublished Coins from the Bank of Israel Numismatic Collection, INJ 14 (2000–02), pp. 187–188, no. 7. Meshorer and Bijovsky (n. 93 above), Joppa, no. 16. THE COINAGE OF JAFFA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD 163 accusative case: ÉÏÕËÉ[ÁÍ] ÄÏÌÍÁÍ CEB[ÁCÔÇÍ].98 As Farhi points out, the use of the accusative on city coinage of Provincia Palaestina is found only on this coin and on a Julia Domna coin of Diospolis, and it implies an honor bestowed upon a person.99 Greek honorary inscriptions usually mention the honoree in the accusative; if he or she was an emperor or a member of the imperial family, the honor probably entailed the erection of a statue or altar to him or her.100 Indeed, as mentioned by Hill, a coin of Ilium bears the inscription Äßá ³Éäáéïí ¹ ³Éëéåéò (The people of Ilium [honor] Idaean Zeus). This coin was correlated by ¹ Kubitschek with a series of statues erected by the city, of which three bases exist.101 The accusative requires a verb to modify it, probably å ³ôßìçóáí (or some similar word). Usually, as Hill points out, the accusative case on coins appears in relation to deified humans or various personifications (to all of which the city had probably erected statues or altars).102 Thus our coin may indicate activity of the imperial cult in Jaffa. Julia Domna was deified either by Elagabalus or by Severus Alexander after her death, but since the coin from Diospolis is from that city’s year 9 (208/9 CE), the coin from Jaffa does not necessarily postdate her death. The Empress had already received godlike honors in her lifetime: a cameo in the British Museum portrays her as Luna,103 and sacrifices are offered to her together with the imperial family and the Senate on a relief from the arch of Septimius Severus in Leptis Magna. Most importantly, an inscription from Athens lists a plethora of honors to Julia Domna, equal to those given to Athena Polias,104 the protector of the city. The honors include sacrifices and libations on certain days and the erection of a golden statue of her in the Parthenon.105 Julia Domna coins were minted between 193 and 217 CE. Her appearance on coinage of Jaffa may push back the initial date of minting in Jaffa before the reign of Caracalla. Nevertheless, the portrait seems to be of an elderly Julia Domna; Farhi (n. 81 above), p. 145, n. 31. Ibid., pp. 145–147, nos. 3–5. 100 J. M. Højte: Roman Imperial Statue Bases from Augustus to Commodus, Aarhus, Denmark, 2005, pp. 19–25. 101 G. F. Hill: A Handbook of Greek and Roman Coins, London, 1899, p. 186 n. 3; W. Kubitschek: Heroen Statuen in Ilion, Jahreshefte des Österreichischen Archäologischen Institutes in Wien 1 (1898), pp. 184–189, esp. p. 187. On the coin, see A. R. Bellinger: Troy: The Coins, Princeton, 1961, p. 59, no. T190. 102 Hill (n. 101 above), p. 186. 103 M. Grant: The Severans: The Changed Roman Empire, London and New York, 1996, p. 46, n. 3. 104 One may wonder if the identification of Julia Domna with Athena in Athens stimulated her veneration in Jaffa, a city that had Athena Promachos (the same Athena as on the Acropolis statue) on its coins. Furthermore, can this explain the appearance of Julia Domna on a coin together with Perseus, Athena’s protégé? 105 M. Beard, J. North, and S. Price: Religions of Rome, Cambridge, 2004–2007, vol. 1, p. 355; vol. 2, pp. 148–150, 257–258, §6.1d, §10.5c. 98 99 164 AVNER ECKER moreover, unless a Jaffa coin of Septimius Severus is found, these coins were more likely minted between 211 and 217 CE. There is one specimen of the Julia Paula/Perseus coin in the Israel Museum Collection (no. 8968); it bears her portrait to the right, with the legend ÉÕ[ËÉ]Á ‚ ÐÁÕËÁ around it. This is the only coin in the corpus that can be dated to a specific ‚ year, since she was married to Elagabalus only from 219 to 220 CE, and her coins were minted only then. A coin from the Sofaer collection (Joppa 25) is recognized by Meshorer and Bijovsky as a Severus Alexander/Perseus type, but the obverse inscription indicates the coin was actually minted during the reign of Macrinus (217–218 CE). The legend bears the letters: …ÌÏÐCÅ meaning [ÁÕÔ Ê vel sim.] Ì(áñêïò) ‚ ¹ ÏÐ(Ýëéïò) CÅ(ïõçñïò) [ÌÁÊÑÉÍÏC CÅÂ]. ¹ Horse and Rider (Coins 7 and 18) This reverse type, appearing on a coin of Caracalla and perhaps on a coin of Elagabalus, shows an equestrian riding to the right, brandishing a spear at a serpent-like monster that is rearing its head at the feet of the horse.106 A close examination of the coin reveals that the rider is laureate, which identifies him as the Emperor. His cloak waves behind him while his torso is heroically bare. Caracalla himself is represented as a rider spearing an enemy on several coins minted in Rome.107 The horse is riding above a horizontal line set in the exergue, crossing the path of the serpent. A hook curves out from this line on the right, representing the harpe of Perseus, which was also the Ptolemaic symbol of the Jaffa mint. This coin seems to combine the iconographic tradition of the emperor as a warrior-rider smiting enemies with the myth of Perseus slaying the monster. It is worth mentioning that although nowhere is Perseus mentioned as riding a horse while killing the kçtos, there are a few ancient examples, both artistic and literary, that merge Perseus killing the monster with Bellerophon killing the Chimera while riding Pegasus.108 The coins of Akko-Ptolemais depict Hadrian, Caracalla and Severus Alexander as riders in military dress, but not spearing an animal or a foe.109 The closest Kindler offers no interpretation of this reverse type. Meshorer suggests that it “is the earliest representation of St. George slaying the dragon, which is a late development of the Perseus story” (Meshorer, n. 51 above, p. 24). Though it is true that the Perseus story is a topos on which the medieval St. George myth is based, the connection between the two on this coin is highly dubious. 107 H. Mattingly: Coins of the Roman Empire in the British Museum, vol. 5, London, 1950, e.g. pp. 256 (no. 506), 480–481 (no. 260). 108 Ogden (n. 33 above), pp. 60–62. 109 Kadman (n. 80 above), nos. 108 (Hadrian), 140–141 (Caracalla), 190–194 (Severus Alexander). 106 THE COINAGE OF JAFFA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD 165 parallel to this coin in the region was minted in Eleutheropolis under Elagabalus, in which the Emperor is riding to the right and brandishing a spear at a four-legged creature (panther?) below.110 4. DENOMINATIONS Jaffa coinage does not bear any sign of the denomination, and the scarcity of specimens makes it difficult to determine the denominations accurately. Kindler divided the coins according to average flan size and weight and assigned each size to a standard Roman denomination. Following this division, he came to the conclusion that Jaffa coins were minted in five denominations between semis (19 mm) to sesterce (29 mm), leaving unminted only the smallest denominations: the quadrans (15 mm) and half-quadrans (12 mm).111 Although the relation between the flan sizes of city coins and Roman denominations is no longer accepted by scholars,112 Kindler’s division by flan diameter remains valid with two modifications: the smallest diameter in Jaffa is 17 mm, so the 15–19 mm scale is replaced with 17–19 mm; and the 22–23 mm scale is replaced with 19–23 mm and 23–26 mm (to remain within the five denominations system suggested by Kindler): Table 1: Coin diameters and types Diameter Caracalla (mm) Julia Macrinus/ Julia Elagabalus Domna Diadume- Maesa nianus Julia Paula Severus Alexander 29–31 26 23 19 Rider (6) Athena (2) Bull (10) Rider (18) Athena (16; K 6612) Tyche (14) Athena (16; K 6615) Athena Tyche (13, 15) (19) Athena (16; K 4245, 4248, 6613, 4251, 4252, 4253; HU 1925; IM 2618, 2619) Bull (17) Athena (21; K 4249; IM 2621, 2620, 14713) Tyche (1) Perseus Tyche (8) Perseus (3) (7) Bull (4, 5) Perseus (12) 17 Tyche (9) Athena (16; Perseus Bull (22) K 4198, 4254; HU 3457; (20) Athena (21; IM 14820, 649) K 3004, 6614) Catalogue numbers from this paper appear in parentheses. The catalogue numbers of the Israel Museum (IM), Kadman Pavilion (K) and Hebrew University (HU) are given when several coins of the same type are included in the same entry in my catalogue. This discussion deals only with coins from the third century CE. 110 111 112 Rosenberger (n. 69 above), p. 42, nos. 26–27. Kindler (n. 1 above), p. 25. Barkay (n. 51 above), pp. 171–181. 166 AVNER ECKER 5. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS In addition to serving as the first comprehensive written corpus of Jaffa coinage in English, this updated survey established that Jaffa most probably minted coins during the first century BCE by presenting the two specimens of the Tyche/Andromeda type — one in the Hebrew University and the other in the Bibliothèque nationale de France. Moreover, although the five reverse types struck in Jaffa between the reign of Caracalla and the reign of Severus Alexander are the same as described by Kindler twenty-five years ago, new obverse types of Julia Domna and Julia Paula (both with Perseus on the reverse) have emerged. There are thus four previously unknown combinations of obverse/reverse (see table 2): 1. 2. 3. 4. Diadumenianus or Macrinus/bull Macrinus/Perseus Elagabalus/Tyche in temple Severus Alexander/bull Table 2: Obverses and reverses of Jaffa city coinage from the third century CE Obv. Rev. Caracalla Julia Domna Macrinus/ Julia (211–217) (193–217) Diadumenianus Maesa (217–218) (218–224) Elagabalus Julia Paula Severus (218–222) (219–220) Alexander (222–235) Tyche Athena Perseus Bull Rider X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X (An X in bold and italics indicates a type not known at the time of Kindler’s article.) The reverse types of Jaffa depict the patron gods of the city and its hero Perseus. All the coins other than the Tyche coins may relate to elements of the Perseus myth: Athena is the patron goddess of Perseus, and Zeus, possibly alluded to by the bull, is his father; the rider slays a serpent-like monster over a harpe sword in the exergue. The corpus of Roman coinage of Jaffa contains important evidence connected to the obscure history of this city. The coins make it clear that the city never received the status of colonia, but nonetheless was definitely a polis and underwent a transformation during the reign of Titus or Vespasian that gave it the title Flavia (like Neapolis). Perseus was obviously a local hero, and the patron gods of the city, especially Athena, were closely associated with him. Jaffa coinage may have been influenced by the city coinage of Akko-Ptolemais, which of all port THE COINAGE OF JAFFA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD 167 cities seems to have the most parallels with it. Both cities struck Perseus and the harpe on their coins, and whereas minting in Jaffa started under Caracalla, minting in Akko-Ptolemais received a boost in his reign, introducing many new types. The connection between the cities may be of interest for future research, perhaps reflecting the affinity of Jaffa for the Phoenician coast in the Persian period. Finally, these coins are clear evidence of a pagan citizenry, and probably a pagan boule. We know that second-century Jaffa had a Jewish agoranomos. Rabbinic sources mention rabbis from Jaffa, and at least from the fourth century onwards there was a necropolis at Abu Kabir, with numerous Jewish epitaphs. These facts raise questions as to the political influence of Jews in the city: Are we looking at a Jewish community muted by pagan authorities, or a cosmopolitan town within the Roman Empire? 6. CATALOGUE OF JAFFA CITY COINS The catalogue contains all the coins that I examined in the collections of the Israel Museum (IM), Hebrew University (HU) and Kadman Numismatic Pavilion of the Eretz Israel Museum (K) and in other published material. A. 1. First Century BCE Autonomous Coin Æ; 6.51 gr.; 16.0 mm; á (Fig. 1) Obv.: Head of veiled and turreted Tyche to r.; no inscription Rev.: Female figure sitting on a rock, wearing a toga, exposed right breast; torso to front, lower half of body and legs to r.; arms out stretched as a supplicant; possibly shackles on wrists; inscription clockwise from ‚‚ ‚ ‚ left: LÄÉ (i.e. year 14) or LÄ (year 4) ÉÏÐÇ Eckhel 1794, p. 433; Mionnet 1811, vol. 5, p. 499, no. 68; De Saulcy 1874, pp. 176–177, no. 1; Hill 1914, pp. xxiv–xxv; Kindler 1985, p. 30; Meir 2000, p. 124 n. 12. Collection and photo: HU 5934. B. 2. Caracalla (211–217 CE) Æ; 15.5 gr.; 24.1 mm; á (Fig. 2) Obv.: Bust of Caracalla to r., draped, cuirassed, laureate; inscription clockwise from left: ÁÕÔ Ê ÌÁ ÁÍÔÚÍÅÉÍÏC CÅ 168 AVNER ECKER Rev.: Tyche, in short dress, turreted head to l., scepter in her left hand, her right leg resting on the prow of a galley at the entrance to a tetrastyle temple with an arched Syrian gable. Between the columns, on her left and right, are two figures. Below the temple are traces of a design showing some other gate or building; inscription clockwise from left: ÉÏÐÐÇC; some variants with: ÖË in the exergue. Rosenberger 1975, p. 77, no. 7; Kindler 1985, p. 27, no. 2 (photo). Not in the collections I examined. 3. Æ; 14.2 gr.; 26 mm; á (Fig. 3) Obv.: Bust of Caracalla to r., draped and laureate; inscription clockwise from left: [AY]T K M AY ANTON … Rev.: Athena helmeted, standing to r., holding a spear in her right hand and leaning on a shield with her left; inscription clockwise from left [ÖË] ÉÏ ÐÐ[Ç] Rosenberger 1975, p. 77, no. 8; Kindler 1985, pp. 27–28, no. 3. Collection and photo: IM 2617. 4. Æ; 10.0 gr.; 25 mm; á (Fig. 4) Obv.: Bust of Caracalla to r., draped, cuirassed, laureate; inscription clockwise from left: ÁÕÔ ÊÁÉ ÁÍ[Ô]Ú[ÍÉÍÏC] Rev.: Perseus standing to r., wearing Phrygian cap, kibisis hanging on his chest; he is holding the head of the Medusa in his left hand and the harpe in his right, and is wearing winged boots; inscription retrograde and counterclockwise from right: ÇÐÐÏÉËÖ Kindler 1985, p. 28, no. 5 (photo); Meshorer 1985, p. 24, no. 35. Not in the collections I examined. THE COINAGE OF JAFFA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD 169 5. Æ; 12.13 gr.; 20.3mm; á (Fig. 5) Obv.: Bust of Caracalla to r., draped, cuirassed, laureate; inscription clockwise from left: ÁÕÔ ÊÁÉ ÁÍÔÚÍÉÍÏC CÅ Rev.: Horned muscular bull standing to r.; inscription clockwise from left: [Ö]Ë [ÉÏÐ]Ð ÇC Rosenberger 1975, p. 76, no. 5; Kindler 1985, p. 28, no. 4; Meshorer 1985, p. 24, no. 35. Collection and photo: IM 2614. 6. Æ; 12.5 gr.; 18.5–19 mm; á Obv.: Same as no. 5; inscription obliterated Rev.: Same as no. 5; inscription clockwise from left: [Ö]Ë ÉÏÐÐ[ÇC] References same as no. 5. Collection: K 4247. Æ; 18.56 gr.; 31 mm; á (Fig. 6) Obv.: Bust of elderly Caracalla, bearded, draped, cuirassed, laureate; inscription clockwise from left: ÁÕÔ ÊÁ ÁÍ … Rev.: The Emperor as a rider with naked torso, wearing cape and laureate, riding to r., brandishing a spear with his right hand at a serpent slithering up from the exergue over a horizontally set harpe; inscription retrograde and clockwise from exergue: ÖË ÉÏÐÐ Ç [C] 7. 170 AVNER ECKER Kindler 1985, 27, no. 1; Meshorer 1985, 24, no. 39. Collection and photo: IM 1473. C. 8. Julia Domna (193–217 CE, but probably under Caracalla) Æ; 9.02 gr.; 22 mm; á (Fig. 7) Obv.: Bust of elderly Julia Domna to r., draped; inscription clockwise from left: ÉÏÕËÉÁ Ä … ‚ Rev.: Defaced, Perseus holding harpe in his left hand and Medusa head in his right; inscription clockwise from bottom left: [ÉÏ]ÐÐ [ÇC] Barkay 2000–02, pp. 177–178, no. 7 (Bank of Israel no. 1–755); Meshorer and Bijovsky, p. 47, Joppe no. 16, pl. 44; Farhi 2003–06, p. 145 n. 31. Collection and photo: IM 8986. D. 9. Macrinus and Diadumenianus (217–218 CE) Æ; 11.45 gr.; 22 mm; â (Fig. 8) Obv.: Bust of Diadumenianus to r.; inscription clockwise from left: ÏÐÅËËÉÏCÁÍÔÚÍÉÍÏC Rev.: Tyche standing l. in tetrastyle temple with arched Syrian gable, her leg resting on the prow of a galley, holding a protome(?) or globe in her right hand and a spear or scepter in her left; inscription clockwise from left: ÉÏÐÐÇC; in exergue: ÖË Kindler 1985, p. 28, no. 6 (photo). Collection: HU 3212. 10. Æ; 5.05gr.; 17–18.5 mm; á Obv.: Same as no. 9; inscription obliterated Rev.: Same as no. 9; inscription clockwise from left: [ÉÏ] ÐÐ ÇC References same as no. 9. Collection: K 4246. THE COINAGE OF JAFFA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD 171 11. Æ; 10.54gr.; 26.5 mm; â (Fig. 9) Obv.: Bust of Emperor to r., very worn; inscription obliterated Rev.: Bull standing to r., very worn; inscription clockwise from left: [Ö]ËÉÏ[ÐÐ] Ç C Rosenberger 1975, p. 76, no.6 (drawing). Collection and photo: IM 2615. 12. Æ; 9.75 gr.; 19.7–20.07 mm; á (Fig. 10) Obv.: Bust of Macrinus (?) to the right, draped and laureate; inscription clockwise from the left: [AYT K] Ì ÏÐCÅ [ÌÁÊÑÉÍÏC CÅÂ] ‚ ‚ Rev.: Perseus standing to the front, leaning to the right; his left arm stretched holding the medusa head; possibly wearing winged boots; inscription is illegible, but maybe the letters ÇC can be read from the left clock‚ ‚ wise in the lower right hand field. Meshorer and Bijovsky, Joppa no. 25, Pl. 44. Collection and photo: Sofaer Collection Joppa 25 E. Elagabalus (218–222 CE) 13. Æ; 5.93 gr.; 21 mm; á (Fig. 11) Obv.: Bust of Elagabalus(?) to r.; inscription clockwise from left: [Á]ÍÔÏÍÉÍ[ÏC]… ‚ ‚ Rev.: Tyche in her temple with figures between the columns (as on no. 2); inscription clockwise in left field, very worn: … ÏÐ …; in exergue: ÖË ‚ ‚ 172 AVNER ECKER Kindler 1985, p. 29, no. 9. Collection and photo: IM 2616. 14. Æ; 9.16 gr.; 23 mm; á (Fig. 12) Obv.: Variant of no. 13: bust of Elagabalus to r., draped, cuirassed and horned; inscription clockwise from left: … ÁÍÔÏÍ … Rev.: Variant of no. 13 but with two figures between the columns on the left. The coin is struck off flan, so it is unknown if there are more figures on the other side. Unpublished variant. Collection and photo: HU 5145. 15. Æ; 6.00 gr.; 18.5–19 mm; æ (Fig. 13) Obv.: Same as no. 13; inscription clockwise, mostly defaced: … ÍÉ … Rev.: Variant of no. 13; inscription clockwise from left: Ö[ËÉÏ]ÐÐ[Ç]C Kindler 1985, p. 29, no. 9 (photo). Collection: K 6616. 16. 16 coins: Æ; 4.90–11.60 gr.; 17–27 mm (Fig. 14) Obv.: Bust of Elagabalus to r., cuirassed, laureate and sometimes horned; inscriptions clockwise: ÁÕÔ Ê Ì ÁÍÔÚÍÉÍÏC (with some minor variants) Rev.: Athena Promachos, standing to front, head to r., wearing a long dress, leaning on a shield with her left hand and on a spear with her right. On some variants the goddess faces left and holds the spear and shield in the opposite hands; inscription clockwise from left, with several variants of the city name, most in the genitive case: ÖËÁÏÕÉÁC ÉÏÐÐÇC THE COINAGE OF JAFFA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD 173 Reichardt 1862, p. 111, no. 27; De Saulcy 1874, p. 177; Hill 1914, p. 44, nos. 1, 2; Rosenberger 1975, p. 77, no. 8; Kindler 1985, p. 29, no. 8. Collections: K 4198, 4245, 4248, 4251, 4252, 5243, 4254, 6612, 6613, 6615; IM 649 (photo), 2618, 2619, 14820; HU 1925, 3457. 17. Æ; 10.75 gr.; 22 mm; á (Fig. 15) Obv.: Bust of Elagabalus to r, draped and laureate; inscription clockwise from left: [… ÁÍÔÏ]ÍÅÉÍÏC CÅ[Â] Rev.: Bull standing to r.; inscription clockwise from right: ÖËÉÏÐÐÇ C Kindler 1985, p. 29, no. 10. Collection and photo: HU 1924. 18. Æ; 21.05 gr.; 27.5–30 mm; á (Fig. 16) Obv.: Bust of Emperor, possibly Elagabalus, to r., draped, cuirassed and laureate, very worn; remnants of inscription clockwise on left: … ÁÕÔ … Rev.: Emperor as rider brandishing spear, same as no. 6; inscription clockwise: [ÉÏÐÐ]ÇC Kindler 1985, pp. 28–29, no. 7 (photo). Collection: K 4250. 174 F. AVNER ECKER Julia Maesa (218–224 CE, sister of Julia Domna, grandmother of Elagabalus) 19. Æ; 6.5 gr.; 20.1 mm; á (Fig. 17) Obv.: Bust of Julia Maesa to r., draped and with bow in her hair; remnants of inscription clockwise from left: [… ÉÏÕËÉÁ Ì]ÁÉC[Á …] Rev.: Same as no. 16; inscription clockwise from left: ÖËÁ Õ[ÉÁC ÉÏ]ÐÐÇC Rosenberger 1975, p. 77, no. 10 (photo); Kindler 1985, p. 29, no. 11. Not in the collections I examined. G. Julia Paula (219–220 CE, first wife of Elagabalus) 20. Æ; 5.04 gr.; 17.0 mm; á (Fig. 18) Obv.: Bust of Julia Paula to r.; inscription clockwise from left: ÉÏ[ËÉ]Á ‚ ÐÁÕËÁ ‚ Rev.: Perseus standing to front, leaning l., holding harpe and maybe also kibisis in his left hand and Medusa head in his right, right arm stretched out; scant remains of inscription clockwise from left: [Ö]ËÉ[ÏÐÐÇC] Unpublished. Collection and photo: IM 8968. H. Severus Alexander (222–235 CE) 21. 6 coins; Æ; 5.35–8.35 gr.; 16–22 mm (Fig. 19) Obv.: Portrait of Severus Alexander to r., laureate, sometimes also draped and cuirassed; inscription clockwise from the left: ÁÕ Ê ÌÁ CÅÏÕ. ÁËÅÎÁÍÄÅÑ (determined based on a combination of specimens) Rev.: Athena Promachos, helmeted, standing to front, head turned r., left hand on shield, right on lance. Some variants show a mirror image of THE COINAGE OF JAFFA IN THE ROMAN PERIOD 175 this depiction; two variants of the inscription: ÖËÁ ÉÏÐÐÇC and ÖËÁÏÕÉÁC ÉÏÐÐÇC (as on no. 15). Rosenberger 1975, p. 77, nos. 11, 12; Kindler 1985, pp. 29–30, no. 12; Meshorer 1985, p. 24, no. 38. Collections: IM 2620, 2621, 14713 (photo); K 3004, 4249, 6614. 22. Æ; 5.66 gr.; 18.5 mm; á (Fig. 20) Obv.: Portrait of Severus Alexander to r., laureate; inscription clockwise from left : ÁÕ Ê CÅÏÕ ÁËÅÎÁÍ Rev.: Bull standing to r.; inscription clockwise from left: ÖË ÉÏÐÐÇC Kindler 1985, p. 29, no. 10 (identified there as Elagabalus); Meshorer 1985, p. 24, no. 37 (photo). Not in the collections I examined. CATALOGUE REFERENCES Barkay 2000–02 = R. Barkay: Rare and Unpublished Coins from the Bank of Israel Numismatic Collection, INJ 14 (2000–02), pp. 185–188. De Saulcy 1874 = F. De Saulcy: Numismatique de la Terre Sainte, Paris, 1874. Eckhel 1794 = I. Eckhel: Doctrina numorum veterum, part 1, vol. 3, Vienna, 1794. Farhi 2003–06 = Y. Farhi: The Coinage of Diospolis (Lod) in the Roman Period, INJ 15 (2003–06), pp. 140–163. Hill 1914 = G. F. Hill: Catalogue of Greek Coins of Palestine, London, 1914. Kindler 1985 = A. Kindler: The Coins of Jaffa, BMH 20–21 (1985), pp. 21–36 (Hebrew). Meir 2000 = C. Meir: Coins: The Historical Evidence of the Ancient City of Jaffa, in B. Kluge and B. Weisser (eds.): XII Internationaler Numismatischer Kongress, Berlin 1997, Akten, vol. 1, Berlin, 2000, pp. 123–130. 176 AVNER ECKER Meshorer 1985 = Y. Meshorer: City Coins of Eretz-Israel and the Decapolis in the Roman Period, Jerusalem, 1985. Meshorer and Bijovsky = Y. Meshorer and G. Bijovsky: Coins of the Holy Land: The Abraham D. Sofaer Collection at the American Numismatic Society, New York, forthcoming. Mionnet 1811 = T. E. Mionnet: Description de Médailles Antiques Grecques et Romaines, Paris, 1811. Reichardt 1862 = H. C. Reichardt: Unpublished Greek Imperial Coins, Numismatic Chronicle and Journal of the Numismatic Society 2 (1862), pp. 104–136. Rosenberger 1975 = M. Rosenberger: City-Coins of Palestine, vol. 2, Jerusalem, 1975.