JUDAEA, Herodians. Herod IV Philip, with Augustus, 4 BCE-34 CE. AE (Bronze, 21 mm, 9.74 g, 11 h), Caesarea Panias (Caesarea Philippi), RY 12 = 8/9 CE. ΚΑΙϹΑΡΙ ϹЄΒΑϹΤΩ Laureate head of Augustus to right. Rev. ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΥ ΤΕΤΡΑΡΧΟΥ The Augusteum of Panias: Tetrastyle temple with stairs leading to it and pellet in pediment (clupeus virtutis?); L-I-B (date) between columns. Bromberg I 35. Hendin 6252. Meshorer, AJC, 3. RPC I 4940. Samel 2122. Shoshana I 20124. Sofaer 118. Well centered and with an unusually attractive rendering of the Augusteum of Panias. The obverse somewhat smoothed, otherwise, very fine.



The tetrastyle temple on the reverse is generally identified as the Augusteum of Panias, the sanctuary of Augustus erected by Herod the Great near the sources of the Jordan and later incorporated into Philip’s capital, Caesarea Philippi. Philip’s coinage marked a decisive break with Hasmonean and earlier Herodian practice: he was the first Jewish ruler to place portraits of both the Roman emperor and himself on his coins, in striking contrast to the aniconic conventions commonly associated with the biblical prohibition of graven images.

On the present issue, struck in regnal year 12 (8/9 CE), the portrait and name of Augustus dominate the obverse, while the reverse depicts the imperial cult temple but identifies the issuer as ΦΙΛΙΠΠΟΥ ΤΕΤΡΑΡΧΟΥ and dates the coin according to Philip’s own reign. The design thus acknowledges Roman supremacy and the cultic honours paid to the emperor while simultaneously asserting Philip’s local authority as tetrarch. Few coins of the Herodian dynasty express the political logic of Roman client rule more clearly.