Roman praefecti, 6-66. Valerius Gratus, 15-26. Æ-Prutah, year 3 (=16), Jerusalem?; 1,95 g IOY / ΛΙΑ in wreath//Three stylised lilies flanked by L – Γ (in the 3rd year [of Tiberius]). Hendin no. 1335b; Kokkinos –; Meshorer, Treasury 257 no. 324.

Obv. slightly struck off-centre; rev. a beautiful depiction of lilies, very fine

Overbeck – Meshorer no. 216.

The lily is an old Jewish symbol which was already used as a coin image by John Hyrcanus and Alexander Jannaeus. The shoshannah could be understood as a symbol for Israel, cf. Romanoff 45-51; Meshorer, Treasury, 34 f. Taylor 2006, 558 points out that Greeks and Romans linked this flower with Hera or Juno with whom the empress Livia was associated. Therefore, the lily’s polysemy made such a coin image eligible also for the Romans.