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Mattatayah Antiogonus – King of Judaea: 40-37 B.C.
Bronze Prutah 14mm (1.56 grams) Jerusalem mint, circa 40-37 B.C.
Reference: Hendin 1164 (5th Edition)
Paleo-Hebrew, retrograde (Mattatayah) within wreath and border of dots.
Double cornucopia adorned with ribbons, ear of barley between horns, border of dots.
Historically significant coin to those of both Jewish and Christian faiths, along with people that are interested in studying history. To the Jewish peoples, this coin represents an important historical Jewish king. To Christians studying biblical history, this coin could be considered as a “Widow’s Mite” from the bible. The prutah was the smallest (other than the half prutah) circulating coin in the area of Jerusalem during the time of Jesus Christ. It took about 10 prutah coins to buy a loaf of bread during those times. The bible does not make it clear which of the coins was donated by the poor widow, but it could be certain that it was a prutah or half prutah coin. Prutahs of Alexander Jananeus would have been common to circulation and some of his coins were struck in such vast numbers, they could be the least valuable coins to be considered a poor widow’s mite. The exchange rate for a silver shekel would have been about 256 prutah coins. There were several Jewish rulers whom struck coins that could be considered a “widow’s mite”. And the conclusion that can be made that any circulating prutah coin of the area could have been given as donation in that story. Of course there are certain coin types that would be more plentiful or more scarce than others, but logically speaking, since a specific ruler’s coin was not named in the bible, any prutahs circulating could have been the coin mentioned in the bible as the “Widow’s Mite”.
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Starting with the Jewish Kings, most coins were minted at the Jerusalem mint. The Hosmoneon Dynasty coinage begins with John Hyrcanus I (135-104 B.C.) followed by Judah Aristobulus (104 B.C.), then Alexander Jannaeus (104-76 B.C.). The Herodian Dynasty came next with Herod I (the Great) (40-4 B.C.), followed by Herod Archelaus (4 B.C. – 6 A.D.), Herod Antipas (4 B.C. – 39 A.D.), Herod Philip and Herod Agrippa I (41-44 A.D.).
Roman Procurator coinage was issued under procurators and prefects of the province of Judaea which minted coins with names of contemporary emperors between circa 6 – 66 A.D. They minted only one denomination and size, the bronze Prutah. Not all of the procurators and prefects issued coinage in the province of Judaea under the Romans. Those that did issue coins were Coponius (6-9 A.D.) (under the Roman emperor Augustus, 27 B.C.-14A.D.), Marcus Ambibulus (9-12 A.D.), Valerius Gratus (15-18/26 A.D.) (time of Roman emperor Tiberius 14-37 A.D.), Pontius Pilate (26-36 A.D.), Antonius Felix (52-60 A.D.) (under Roman emperor Claudius 41-54 A.D.), and Porcius Festus (59-62 A.D.) (under emperor Nero 54-68 A.D.). The last three procurators were Lucceius Albinus, Gessius Florus and Marcus Antonius Julianus. They did not issue any coins since the First Jewish-Roman War was brewing during emperor Nero’s reign and the leaders of the revolt started issuing their own coins for the period known as the Jewish War (67-70 A.D.).
After the conquest of Jerusalem under Vespasian and Titus, this period of coinage ended and Romans commemorated the victories over Jerusalem and the surrounding area with Judaea Capta coinage.
Prutah (Hebrew: פרוטה) is a word borrowed from the Mishnah and the Talmud, in which it means “a coin of smaller value”. The word was probably derived originally from an Aramaic word with the same meaning.
The prutah was an ancient copper Jewish coin with low value. A loaf of bread in ancient times was worth about 10 prutot (plural of prutah). One prutah was also worth two lepta (singular lepton), which was the smallest denomination minted by the Hasmonean and Herodian Dynasty kings.
Prutot were also minted by the Roman Procurators of the Province of Judea, and later were minted by the Jews during the First Jewish Revolt (sometimes called ‘Masada coins’).
The Lesson of the widow’s mite is presented in the Synoptic Gospels (Mark 12:41-44, Luke 21:1-4), in which Jesus is teaching at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Gospel of Mark specifies that two mites (Greek lepta) are together worth a quadrans, the smallest Roman coin. A lepton was the smallest and least valuable coin in circulation in Judea, worth about six minutes of an average daily wage.
In the story, a widow donates two small coins, while wealthy people donate much more. Jesus explains to his disciples that the small sacrifices of the poor mean more to God than the extravagant, but proportionately lesser, donations of the rich.
“He sat down opposite the treasury and observed how the crowd put money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. A poor widow also came and put in two small coins worth a few cents. Calling his disciples to himself, he said to them, ‘Amen, I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all the other contributors to the treasury. For they have all contributed from their surplus wealth, but she, from her poverty, has contributed all she had, her whole livelihood.’
Antigonus II Mattathias (Hebrew: מתתיהו אנטיגונוס השני) (known in Hebrew as Matityahu) (died 37 BCE) was the last Hasmonean king of Judea . He was the son of King Aristobulus II of Judea. Antigonus was handed over by Herod for execution in 37 BCE, after a reign of three years during which he led a fierce struggle of the Jews for independence from the Romans.
Antigonus the Hasmonean was the second son of Aristobulus II, and together with his father was carried prisoner to Rome by Pompey in 63 BCE. He escaped and returned to Judea in 57 BCE. Despite an unsuccessful attempt to oppose the Roman forces there, the senate released him but he refused to surrender his ancestral rights. After the death of his older brother Alexander, Antigonus claimed that his uncle Hyrcanus was a puppet in the hands of the Idumean Antipater and attempted to overthrow him with the help and consent of the Romans. He visited Julius Cæsar, who was in Syria in 47, and complained of the usurpation of Antipater and Hyrcanus. In 42, he attempted to seize the government of Judea by force with the assistance of his brother-in-law, Ptolemy Mennei but was defeated by Herod.
The excessive taxation wrung from the people to pay for the extravagances of Antony and Cleopatra had awakened a deep hatred against Rome. Antigonus gained the adherence of both the aristocratic class in Jerusalem and the leaders of the Pharisees . The Parthians, who invaded Syria in 40 BCE, preferred to see an anti-Roman ruler on the throne of Judea. When Antigonus promised them large sums of gold and five hundred female slaves besides, they put a troop of five hundred warriors at his disposal. Hyrcanus was sent to Babylon after suffering the mutilation of his ears, which rendered him unfit for the office of high priest. Herod fled from Jerusalem. In 40 BCE Antigonus was officially proclaimed king and high priest by the Parthians. His three-year reign was a continuous struggle.
Herod succeeded in having himself declared king of Judea by Rome. On Herod’s return from Rome in 39 BCE he opened a campaign against Antigonus and laid siege to Jerusalem. In the spring of 38 BCE, Herod wrested control of the province of Galilee and eventually all of Judea as far as Jerusalem. Due to the approach of winter, Herod postponed his siege of Jerusalem , where Antigonus and the remnants of his army took refuge, until spring. Herod was held off for 3–5 months but the Romans did eventually capture the city; however, the supporters of Antigonus fought until the Romans reached the inner courtyard of the Temple. Antigonus was taken to Antioch and executed, ending Hasmonean rule.
Josephus states that Marc Antony beheaded Antigonus (Antiquities, XV 1:2 (8-9). Roman historian Dio Cassius says he was crucified. Cassius Dio’s Roman History records: “These people [the Jews] Antony entrusted to a certain Herod to govern; but Antigonus he bound to a cross and scourged, a punishment no other king had suffered at the hands of the Romans, and so slew him.” In his Life of Antony, Plutarch claims that Antony had Antigonus beheaded, “the first example of that punishment being inflicted on a king.”
In 1971, bulldozers removing earth in Jerusalem for a construction project uncovered a tomb with an inscription that, according to some scholars, indicates that this was the tomb of King Antigonus, the last Hasmonean king.
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