JUDAEA, Herodians. Agrippa I, with Claudius, 37-43 CE. AE (Bronze, 27 mm, 15.68 g, 12 h), Caesarea Maritima, RY 7 = 42/3 CE. [ΤΙΒΕΡΙΟΣ ΚΑΙΣΑΡ ΣΕΒΑΣΤΟΣ ΓΕΡ] Laureate head of Claudius to right. Rev. ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ [ΜΕΓΑΣ] ΑΓΡΙΠΠΑΣ ΦΙΛΟ Distyle temple containing Agrippa and Claudius, both togate and standing facing one another, each holding a patera in his right hand; between them in the background, veiled female figure standing right and holding a bust (?) in her right hand; below, victimarius kneeling left and restraining a sacrificial offering; in pediment, L Z (date). Bromberg I 42. Burnett, Agrippa 10. Hendin 6275. Meshorer, AJC, 8. RPC I 4983. Samel -. Shoshana I 20140. Sofaer 164. Rare. Good fine.



Few coins illustrate the two contrasting faces of Agrippa I’s kingship as vividly as this remarkable issue. In Judaea, he cultivated the image of a king devoted to Jewish law (cf. lot 201 above); in the Hellenized civic setting of Caesarea Maritima, however, he presented himself through the ceremonial language of Roman power. Dated to regnal year 7 (42/3 CE), the coin bears the portrait of Claudius on the obverse, while the reverse shows the emperor and Agrippa, both togate and holding paterae, performing a sacrifice within a distyle temple.

Burnett interpreted the scene not merely as a generic religious ceremony, but as the ritual confirmation of the alliance concluded between the two rulers after Claudius’ accession. Josephus records that the emperor confirmed the kingdom previously granted to Agrippa by Gaius, enlarged it with Judaea and Samaria – the former realm of his grandfather Herod – and added Abila and territories around Mount Lebanon, before concluding a sworn treaty with him in the Roman Forum (Josephus, Ant. 19.275–277). Suetonius likewise states that Claudius concluded treaties with foreign rulers in the Forum according to the ancient fetial rite, which involved the sacrifice of a pig (Suetonius, Claud. 25.5). Burnett nevertheless identified the building depicted on the coin as the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, Rome’s pre-eminent state sanctuary, and understood the scene as the consecration of the treaty there. If his interpretation is correct, the kneeling victimarius is restraining a pig for sacrifice – an extraordinarily provocative image on a coin issued by a Jewish king.