JUDAEA, Roman Administration. Domitian, 81-96. AE (Bronze, 30 mm, 15.29 g, 12 h), Caesarea Maritima, 92. IMP CAES DOMIT AVG GERM P M TR P XI Radiate head of Domitian to right, with aegis on his left shoulder. Rev. IMP XXI COS XVI CENS P P P Palm tree with two date clusters. BMC 31-5. Bromberg I 283. Hendin 6485. Meshorer 394. RPC II 2307. Samel 2363-6. Shoshana I 20515. SNG ANS 484. Sofaer 33. Perfectly centered on a full flan, with one of the finest known depictions of the palm tree. Somewhat rough and with minor deposits, otherwise, good very fine.



Struck at Caesarea Maritima in 92 CE, more than two decades after the fall of Jerusalem, this impressive bronze demonstrates the enduring significance of the palm as an emblem of Judaea under the later Flavians. An ancient and readily recognizable symbol of the region, the date palm had acquired an additional political resonance through its prominent appearance on the Judaea Capta coinage, where it became closely associated with the Flavian victory over the Jewish revolt.

That resonance is particularly significant under Domitian. Contemporary issues from Caesarea employed explicitly triumphal types, including Victory and the trophy (see lots 396-399 above), demonstrating the continued currency of the dynasty's military imagery. On the present coin, the exceptionally well-preserved reverse renders the palm and its two heavy clusters of dates with remarkable clarity. The image could therefore operate on two levels: as a geographical emblem of Judaea and as a more distant echo of the Judaean victory that had played so prominent a role in the construction of Flavian dynastic legitimacy.

The subsequent history of the motif adds a striking epilogue: some forty years later, the date palm would appear again on the coinage of the Bar Kokhba revolt, now in an emphatically Jewish context.