Herod Antipas, 4 BCE-39. Æ-full denomination, year 24=20/21, Tiberias; 10.62 g.

Herod Antipas, 4 BCE-39.
Æ-full denomination, year 24=20/21, Tiberias; 10.62 g. HPWΔΟΥ ΤΕΤΡΑΡΧΟY around a palm frond, in the fields L – KΔ//ΤΙΒƐ / PIAC within a wreath. Hendin no. 1199; Lykke 240 fig. 54; Meshorer, Treasury 226 no. 75; RPC I no. 4918.


Rare. Fine/very good

Overbeck – Meshorer no. 122.

The year 24=20/21 of Antipas’s reign was the year of Tiberias’s foundation. The plant depicted on the coins of Tiberias, which was situated at the western shore of the Sea of Galilee and which served Herod Antipas as residence, is interpreted by most numismatists as a reed as well as a palm frond, e.g. Lykke 87 f. I think it is utterly impossible that the city of Tiberias made use of two heraldic plants or changed its emblem in such a short period of time. The coinage at the end of Herod’s minting demonstrates that the palm tree and a date cluster could serve as Tiberias’s coat of arms. Therefore, we should also identify the plants on the earliest coins, which may look like reed stems, as awkwardly shaped palm fronds. The city of Tiberias/Twerja and the surrounding fertile lands produce dates in great quantities up until our time. This finds its expression in Twerja’s municipal coat of arms decorated with three palm trees. There is also the question as to why the citizens of Tiberias should have chosen the reed as their heraldic plant.