Description

John Hyrcanus I, 135-104 BCE. Half-Prutah, Jerusalem; 1,11 g.

YHW?NN HKHN HGDL above a palm frond, W??R HYHWDYM below it (Yehohanan the High Priest and the Jews’ Council)//A blossom of a lily flanked by two ears of grain, A in the l. field. Hendin no. 1134; Meshorer, Treasury 203 Group C.

Nearly very fine

Overbeck – Meshorer no. 60.

Cf. Lykke 44, who falling back on Romanoff 50 f. discusses the problem whether the depicted flower is to be identified with a lily or a rose. At any rate, the representation of the lily seems to be influenced by Rhodian coins which show a rose. For the meaning of the lily cf. Romanoff 45-51 and Lykke 45 f. who characterises the symbol's development from a 'sign of Judaea and Jerusalem' to a 'central image ... within Jewish coin iconography'. It may be sufficient to cite verse 14.6 from the Book of Hosea: 'I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon.'