A Second Seleucid Coin Attributed to Jerusalem

Abstract

After Antiochus VII Sidetes’ siege of Jerusalem was lifted (133 or 132 BCE), the first mint of
bronze coins (SC 2123) in that city was inaugurated. Based upon the distribution of provenanced
finds of another coin of that king (SC 2122), a second attribution to the mint is proposed.
Analysis of the siege’s chronology makes it likely that the Jewish High Priest John Hyrcanus
I, the Seleucid king’s vassal after the city’s capitulation, had a major role in minting both
coins. The aniconic and non-figural iconography on the coins and numerous other numismatic
considerations are garnered in support of this idea.