Herodian Bronze and Tyrian Silver Coinage

Contrary to what one might have expected, the Judaean monarch, Herod the Great (37-4 B.C.E.), famous as a prolific builder, did not mint any silver coins, but instead limited his production to very modest low value bronze denominations. In the 1980s, the Israeli numismatics scholar, Y. Meshorer endeavoured to demonstrate that Herod appropriated the mint of the coastal city of Tyre and moved it to Jerusalem where shekels and half-shekels in fine silver of the Tyrian type were issued. Since then, Meshorer's proposal has been discredited by contrary evidence. In this article, it is shown that, although the Tyrian mint stayed put throughout, from the late 2nd cent, B.C.E. to the outbreak of the Jewish War in 66 C.E., Judaean coinage was tied to the Tyrian shekel (reduced tetradrachm) and was produced in fractional denominations to this standard, which was established during Seleucid rule.