§ 2. The Coins of the Jews bore Greek Inscriptions. Let us now look at coins and medals-the most satisfactory of all testimonies to the student of antiquity. The practice of the ancients was totally different from ours in the choice of a language for inscriptions. We use Latin while they employed the vernacular tongue. From a series of their coins, therefore, we may ascertain with the most perfect exactness, not only the language of any given people, but also the sources whence it was derived and the changes which it underwent in the lapse of time. The learned Spanheim writes very much to my purpose in the present passage: "By this means," he says, "the unquestionable origin of languages, the primitive and the altered forms of letters, the distinctive marks of different ages, the manifold errors of the stone-cutters and other difficult questions relating to antiquity, were happily solved." From these premises we affirm that long before the birth of Christ, all the coins in circulation among the Jews, Galileans, Samaritans, and neighboring states, bore Greek inscriptions, and for brevity's sake we exhibit a few as a sample, where we have it in our power to produce a host. HPW * Here we have a coin of Herod the Great, exhibiting on one side a bunch of grapes, by which the vine-bearing region of Engaddi was represented, with the Greek characters HPRAOY; and on the other side what Hardouin thought to be the Lily of Phaselis, but which Spanheim, whose opinion is more generally adopted, more correctly represented as a helmet, with horsetail and crest. The Epigraph is EON APXOT! This piece of money was coined about forty years before the Christian Era, for in the fortieth, Herod was honored with the title of King. *Spanhemius, Diss. 2, § 1, tom. 1, p. 61, ed. Lond. Calmet. Diss. sur. les Medail. Hebraiq. in Dict. t. 1, p. 76. This is another coin of Herod the Great, also copied in Spanheim, and reported to be in the Royal Treasury of France. On the front is an altar with a flame, and on the back the high-priest's cap, or as Spanheim thinks a helmet, the inscription on the obverse being ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΗΡΩΔΟΥ. From this it is evident that this coin was struck after the assumption of the regal dignity by Herod; perhaps after the building of the second temple. Here is a coin of Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great, whose coins are by far the most numerous.* On the upper side presents itself a palm branch, the symbol (iegoyλvpixóv) of Judea and Galilee, (for these countries by the testimony of Plinyt are covered with palm-trees,) having the Greek inscription HP240T TETPAPXOT and the numerals L.44, the year 34 of the Tetrarchy of Herod, and 37 of Christ. On the under side a laurel wreath with the letters N. K. * Vide Spanhemium, loc. cit. pag. 527. Plinius, t. 1, p. 682, v. 26, lib. 13, cap. 4. SECOND SERIES, VOL. XII. NO 11. 30 To the coins already exhibited, I add those of Herod Agrippa, in which two festivals of the Jews are represented, that of Tabernacles and that of Pentecost. The tent which appears on one side of them represents the feast of Tabernacles, and the ears of corn upon the other the feast of Pentecost.* The inscription is Greek, ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΑΓΡΙΠΑ, or simply ΑΓΡΙΠΑ. John Villalpandus, † Antony Augustinust and others assure us that the thirty pieces of silver which were the price of Christ's betrayal bore a Greek inscription also. The following is a representation of them, according to these authors: On the one is a radiated head of the Colossus of Rhodes, on the other a rose, with the Greek word POДION, all which prove it to be a Rhodian coinage. One of these is preserved in the church of Santa Croce di Gierusalemma, and another in Paris in a glazed cabinet: nevertheless my own candid opinion is that these learned men have greatly mistaken about these * Vide Spanhem. loc. cit. p. 528. Calmet. 1. cit. n. 20. + Villalpandus, lib. 2, de Pond. Disp 4, cap. 30, p. 402, tom. 3. Anton. Augustin. Dial. 2. de Numism. p. 22, ed. Rom. coins, as Selden has clearly shown. * But enough of Jewish moneys with Greek inscriptions. They survive in such numbers that Hardouin has written a whole book upon them called De Numis Herodiadum, which those who require further information would do well to consult. † * Selden. de. Jur. N. L. I. p. 242 et 243, ed. Lond. t. 1. Here some will possibly object that about this period, (1) Simon Maccabæus was permitted by Antiochus,' king of Syria, to coin money inscribed with the Samaritan language and character, like the following:2 W E And (2) that the tribute money which the Pharisees and Herodians presented3 to Christ for his opinion bore a Latin inscription, as follows:" But neither of these coins is any serious objection to our argument. For, in regard to the first-John Christopher Wagenseil, Charles Patin, and Otho Sperling, some of our 1) Lib. 1 Mach. cap. 15, v. 6. 2) V. Conringium de N. Hebr; Parad. p. 56. Hadrianum Relandum, de Nummis Samaritanorum. 3) Math. Evang. cap. 22, v. 17 ad 19. 4) V. Selden. de J. N. et G. lib. 2, cap. 8, p. 239. In the same language also are inscribed the coins of the neighboring regions, Galilee, Samaria, and others. Many first writers on numismatology, have declared it spurious, an opinion which commands my own most unhesitating suffrage. The passage in Maccabees goes for nothing: "I permit thee to make a coinage of thine own money," because this goes no further than the article of permission. That Simon availed himself of this license, and that he actually coined money, is neither proved by the phraseology, nor has it ever yet been proved by any author. This argument then is of no avail, for the authority of Antiochus was as despised in the country as his friendship was disregarded. Thus we dispose of the Scripture argument; and now turn to the coins themselves, which are utterly destitute of any memorial of Simon. The inscription on them is Sekel Ischrael, Jeruschalaim Hakkedos cha-that is, the Shekel of Israel, Jerusalem the holy, and so on. But the most convincing proof of their spuriousness (vodeía) is that they have a Samaritan inscription; that is an inscription in a language not then extant among the Jews. The force of this difficulty those who contend for the genuineness of the coins confess, and know not how to evade: For although they urge that Simon had them struck in the cities of Samaria, this makes little for their purpose-because it is incredible that seeking to record the achievement of the national liberty of the Hebrews, he would have availed himself of the help of the Samaritans, a race held in the utmost detestation by the Jews. Would he, further, have chosen a language and character then unknown? and would he have abandoned so far the usage then universally prevailing of employing in their coinage none but their vernacular tongue? Neither would the Samaritans have originated such an inscription-Jerusalem was not holy with them, nor would they go up to it to worship, preferring their native Samaria. Nor, finally, does the effort of Augustine Calmet, Peter Allix, and Father Souciet, to explain away the difficulty by assuming that there were two characters then 2 1) Vide Morinum, exercit. 2. in Pentat. Samar. 1, 10. Biblio. theq. Critiq. lib. 2, cap. 27, p. 404, 405. 2) Calmet, Dissert. sur le Medail. Hebraiq. p. 65. |