Bar Kokhba Coin, 132-135 CE

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The Rebels Assert Independence

"for the f[reedom] of Israel"

Date: 132-135 CE

Current Location: Private Collection, Shlomo Moussaieff.

Language and Script: Hebrew, paleo-Hebrew alphabetic

General Information:

Sixty years after the destruction of the Temple, the Jews revolted against the Romans for a second time. Their leader was Simon Bar Kokhba. Against penalty of death, Bar Kokhba overstruck Roman coins with Jewish symbols. This example has a depiction of a lulav and an etrog, two of the “four species” of plants used ritually in the festival of Succoth. A lulav is a “shoot” or “young branch,” especially of a palm tree, and an etrog is a thick-skinned citrus fruit resembling a lemon. Also on this side of the coin is a dating formula, consisting of the paleo-Hebrew letters shin and bet—for “y(ear) 2” (133/134 CE)—followed by an abbreviated inscription lh[rwt] ysr’l, “for the f[reedom] of Israel.”

See also:

• Bronze coin portraying a palm tree, marks year 2 of the Bar Kokhba Revolt, 133 CE (front).
• Bronze coin portraying a vine leaf and the Hebrew inscription, “year two of the freedom of Israel,” 133 CE (reverse).
• Silver coin marking year 3 of the Bar Kokhba Revolt portraying facade of the Jerusalem Temple inscribed with the name Shim’on, 134 CE (front).
• Silver coin marking year 3 of the Bar Kokhba Revolt imposed on a Roman coin portraying the four species and the Hebrew inscription, “for the freedom of Jerusalem,” 134 CE (reverse).
• Bar Kokhba Coins from Masada, 132-135 CE