JUDAEA, Achaemenid Province (Yehud). Circa 350-333 BCE. Drachm or Rb' Šql (Silver, 12 mm, 2.49 g, 3 h). Head of Athena to right, wearing crested Attic helmet decorated with three olive leaves.
Rev. 'YHD' (in Paleo-Hebrew) Owl standing right, head facing; to left, olive sprig and crescent; all within round incuse. GLF Type 4.1 (
this coin, O1/R1). Jeselsohn 6-7 (
same dies). Of the highest rarity and importance, the finest of just four known examples, with an exceptionally clear ethnic. Faint cleaning scratches and the obverse struck somewhat off center
, otherwise, very fine.
From the Aba Neeman Collection, Numismatica Ars Classica 120, 6 October 2020, 426, previously published on the Menorah Coin Project on 7 October 2012.
As discussed in GLF pp. 160-161 (and elsewhere), the iconography of this type is unmistakably pagan from a Jewish standpoint: the goddess Athena and her sacred bird stand in stark contrast to Jewish theological principles. However, this also applies to later coins, such as those minted in the early Hellenistic period (see Lots 257-258 below). It is perhaps best not to approach this issue too dogmatically: the coins adopted non-Jewish iconography because they were part of a currency system that was not exclusively Jewish, and because they primarily served pragmatic purposes. Only in later times did the coins of Judaea adopt pointedly Jewish iconography, not least in a conscious effort to distinguish them from Hellenistic and Roman foreign rule
