Coins of Tiberias with Asclepius and Hygieia and the Question of the City’s Colonial Status

Abstract

The paper discusses a coin type minted by Tiberias in the third century CE. The letters COL,
allegedly testifying to the status of colony, have been read on its reverse. It has also been
suggested that the type appears under both Caracalla and Elagabalus. Recently discovered
specimens demonstrate, however, that both the reading and suggestion are erroneous. The
reverse legend does not contain COL and the series was struck under one emperor only. The
date, ‘Year 200’, read on several specimens, has implications for the still unsolved problem of
the exact year of the foundation of Tiberias.