Greetings and welcome to my Weblog. As the Title of this Blog states, this site will blog about Coins, the Law and Commentary. I hope you'll find this blog to be both informative and opinionated. There doesn't seem to be any blog that covers the field of numismatics in the bloggosphere yet, so perhaps this will fill a niche.
It is fitting that this, the inaugural post to my Weblog, The Shekel, is about the coin that is the namesake of this blog, The Shekel of the First Jewish Revolt Against Rome.
The Coin pictured above is a silver shekel dated Year One of the Revolt, which was AD 66/67. The Inscription upon the coin is in paleo-Hebrew.
On the Obverse: Cup with the inscription "Shekel of Israel" and an Aleph for Year 1
On the Reverse: Pomegranite with the inscription "Jerusalem The Holy".
The Coin has great historical significance. In AD 66, the Jews revolted against their Roman rulers and declared their independence. The revolt was eventually crushed after five years. The last resisting Jews held out at Masada until they committed suicide rather than being conquered and enslaved by Rome. The Second Jewish Temple was destroyed in this war.
The Picture of the Shekel is from David Hendin's site, Amphora Coins. I encourage you to visit his site to view his wide array of ancient coins and antiquities he has for sale. Mr. Hendin has also written one of the definitive books on Ancient Jewish Coins, and his work is a "must have" for any collector in this area, and also a great read for those interested in history.
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