Coins of the First Revolt Based on Procuratorial Types, with Special Reference to the Rare Quarter Sheqel of Year Four

Abstract

Arguments have been presented by Donald T. Ariel (2011) for the minting of the “year two”
and “year three” bronze units (prutot) by John of Gischala’s faction and its Zealot allies. These
coins bear the hallmark of a procuratorial issue in their design. The exceptional “year four”
silver quarter sheqel similarly owes its design to two linked procuratorial coins, so if John of
Gischala (Gush Ḥalav) was behind the minting of the abovementioned bronzes one wonders
if the same applied to these rare and short-lived quarter sheqels. The choice of the specific
procuratorial issues for these coin types is also discussed.