JUDAEA, Herodians. Agrippa I, with Agrippa II, 37-43 CE. AE (Bronze, 22 mm, 8.08 g, 12 h), Caesarea Panias (Caesarea Philippi), RY 2 = 37/8 CE. [ΒΑΣΙΛ]ΕΥΣ - [ΑΓΡΙΠΠΑΣ] Diademed head of Agrippa I to right. Rev. ΑΓΡΙΠΠΑ ΥΙΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ Agrippa II on horseback to right; below, [LB] (date). Bromberg I 40. Burnett, Agrippa 1. Hendin 6268. Meshorer 1. RPC I 4974. Samel 2133. Shoshana 20134. Sofaer 147-148. Very rare and of great historical interest. Areas of weakness, otherwise, good fine.



Struck in the second regnal year of Agrippa I (37/38 CE), this remarkable issue presents an unusually explicit statement of Herodian kingship and dynastic succession. The obverse bears the diademed portrait and title of King Agrippa, while the reverse depicts his young son Agrippa II on horseback, accompanied by the legend ΑΓΡΙΠΠΑ ΥΙΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ, 'Agrippa, son of the king.' By defining the prince through his relationship to the reigning monarch, the coin places royal descent at the heart of its message and presents Agrippa II as the dynasty’s future. His equestrian portrayal draws upon the Hellenistic and Roman visual language of princely representation, adapting established imagery of succession to the Herodian house.

Agrippa’s public image varied according to audience and setting. On coins struck in the predominantly non-Jewish cities of his realm, he adopted the titles, portraits and visual language of a Hellenistic monarch. After receiving Judaea in 41 CE, however, he cultivated in Jerusalem the image of a king devoted to Jewish law: Josephus reports that he performed all the prescribed sacrifices and omitted nothing required by ancestral custom (Josephus, A. 19.293–294). The Acts of the Apostles likewise associates his reign with the persecution of the early Christian community in Jerusalem: James, the brother of John, was executed, and Peter was subsequently imprisoned after Agrippa saw that his actions had met with approval (Acts 12:1–4). Although the king’s precise motives cannot be established, the episode reflects the political importance he attached to public opinion in Jerusalem.

The dynastic future proclaimed by the coin was not immediately realized. Following Agrippa I’s sudden death in 44 CE, Claudius initially considered allowing Agrippa II to succeed his father, but was persuaded that the seventeen-year-old prince was too young to govern so extensive a kingdom. Judaea was consequently returned to direct Roman administration. Agrippa II later received the royal title and territories of his own, but he never inherited the full kingdom assembled by his father.