JUDAEA, Bar Kokhba War. 132-136 CE. Zuz = Denarius (Silver, 18 mm, 3.00 g, 6 h), regular coinage. Uncertain mint, Year 1 = 132/3 CE. 𐤀𐤋𐤏𐤆𐤓 𐤄𐤊𐤅𐤄𐤍 ('Eleazar the Priest' in Paleo-Hebrew) Jug with handle; to right, palm frond; all within shallow circular incuse. Rev. 𐤔𐤍𐤕 𐤀𐤇𐤕 𐤋𐤂𐤀𐤋𐤕 𐤉𐤔𐤓𐤀𐤋 ('Year 1 of the Redemption of Israel' in Paleo-Hebrew) Grape bunch on vine with small leaf to left. Bromberg I 126 (same dies). Hendin 6403 (same dies). Meshorer, AJC, 2 (same dies). Mildenberg 2 (O2/R1). Samel 2376 (same dies). Shoshana I 20226 (same dies). Sofaer 2 (same dies). Extremely rare and of great importance, the key date in the Bar Kokhba series. Beautifully toned and fresh. The reverse struck somewhat off center, otherwise, extremely fine.



The Year 1 zuz, or denarius, dated by the legend 'Year 1 of the Redemption of Israel', is the key date of the denomination and generally the rarest regular dated issue of the series. It is represented by a single regular type and was produced from only two obverse and a single reverse die, underscoring the brevity of this inaugural coinage. Its special historical importance lies in the inscription 'Eleazar the Priest', which occurs on the Year 1 zuzim and on one of the two small-bronze types, but never on the sela'im.

Within the same first-year system, Simon bar Kosiba (Bar Kokhba) is named as 'Shimʿon, Nasi of Israel' on one of the large-bronze types and on both middle-bronze types (see below, lots 241 and 243-245), yet his name is absent from both silver denominations. The titles are significant: Eleazar is called simply ha-Kohen, 'the Priest', rather than High Priest, while Nasi of Israel, conventionally translated as 'Prince of Israel', identifies Simon as the political and military ruler of the rebel state.

Older scholarship generally treated Eleazar as a living priestly colleague or religious counterpart to Simon, with Eleazar of Modi'in, Eleazar ben Azariah, and Eleazar ben Harsom among the proposed identifications, although Mildenberg stressed that all such identifications remain conjectural. Meshorer favored Eleazar of Modi'in, but the rabbinic tradition places his death at Bar Kokhba's hands close to the fall of Betar, too late to explain the early numismatic change without further assumptions. Hendin instead proposed that the name invokes the biblical Eleazar, son of Aaron, who stood beside Joshua during the conquest and division of the Promised Land (Hendin 2011/2014, pp. 155–157), whereas Jacobson has more recently interpreted the first-year distribution as evidence for an initial dyarchy of priest and nasi, perhaps even assigning Eleazar the higher ceremonial standing, as suggested by his appearance on silver while Simon remained confined to bronze (Jacobson 2022, pp. 190–193).

Whatever identity was intended, Eleazar's effective disappearance after Year 1 – apart from the occasional reuse of earlier dies – while Simon takes over the silver coinage in Year 2 strongly suggests that the priestly figure had by then withdrawn, been removed, or become subordinate to the nasi.