Papers by Mati Johananoff
Notae Numismaticae XVIII, 2023
Possible attributions of small anepigraphic silver coin types portraying a female head wearing a ... more Possible attributions of small anepigraphic silver coin types portraying a female head wearing a flat crown on the obverse and an eagle standing on a thunderbolt (sometimes alongside a club) on the reverse are discussed. A coin belonging to this group was published by Meshorer and Qedar in 1999 and tentatively attributed to Samaria. 2 This uncertain attribution is revisited considering new specimens documented as part of the “Corpus of Samarian Coinage” project. The suggested attribution is analyzed against competing attributions to Phoenicia (Tyre), Cyprus (Paphos), Cilicia (uncertain mint) and Manbog/Hierapolis-Bambyke (Syria) considering the relevant numismatic, historical, and archaeological sources. It is concluded that these coin types were most probably minted in Samaria after the Macedonian conquest and should be dated to the reign of Ptolemy I. Since no such coin types are known from controlled archaeological provenances, it is suggested that this likely attribution should, however, remain uncertain. Methodologically, case by case, cross-regional, traditional numismatic analysis, still offers the best available tool for the study of such uncertain attributions.
KEY WORDS: Levantine coins, Samaria, Early Hellenistic, uncertain attributions
Ozean, 2024
Abstract: This report catalogues and contextualizes the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic... more Abstract: This report catalogues and contextualizes the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine and Islamic coin finds from the 2023 excavation season of the German-Israeli Tell Iẓṭabba Excavation Project as excavated in Areas E, F and G. All Hellenistic coins catalogued below have been assigned to the Seleucid settlement at the site, while many of the post-Hellenistic coins came from Area E, where we have uncovered the Byzantine city wall. In total 44 coins are catalogued: 18 Seleucid coins [two are unidentifiable]; four Hellenistic civic coins; an isolated Hasmonean coin, an isolated Roman Provincial coin, 12 Late Roman coins, three Byzantine coins, three Islamic coins and additional two unidentified coins. These coins supplement the coins published from previous seasons (from Areas B, C and D) and further contributes to the knowledge of the numismatic data of Tell Iẓṭabba and to our understanding of the overall settlement history at the site.
Keywords: Coin finds, Seleucid coins, Roman coins, Byzantine coins, Islamic coins, Tell Iẓṭabba, Nysa-Scythopolis, Beth Shean
Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau, 2023
Samarian coins from the late Persian period often bear inscriptions of private names variably ass... more Samarian coins from the late Persian period often bear inscriptions of private names variably associated with the Samarian minting authority. Certain names appearing on the coins are also attested in other archaeological and historical sources such as the Wadi ed-Daliyeh papyri and had led to different speculations and attempted reconstructions of the administration of Samaria during the period of c. 450–332 BCE. 1 Other such names are not attested in other sources and regarding many there is still a high degree of uncertainty. This paper will focus on a name appearing on several, securely attributable, Samarian coins, which is currently described in standard literature as unidentifiable from other historical sources. Several etymological suggestions have been made regarding its source but attempts to connect it with a specific historical figure and narrative have yet to be adopted.
Israel Numismatic Research, 2023
A small silver hoard purportedly found in the environs of Samaria during the 1970s is discussed b... more A small silver hoard purportedly found in the environs of Samaria during the 1970s is discussed below. The hoard consists of 25 silver-alloy items and includes jewelry, Hacksilber and two late fifth-century BCE coins from Sidon and Philistia, which provide its approximate burial date. The hoard was found within a ceramic pyxis. The items were studied from typological and archaeo-metallurgical perspectives (SEM–EDS chemical analysis), as well as thin-section petrographic analysis. The inclusion of the Sidonian and Philistian coins may demonstrate the initial and partial state of monetization within the southern Levant and corresponds with the recorded circulation patterns for these coin types during the period.
INR 17, 2022
The Late Persian-period minting authority of Samaria issued coins with a surprisingly large numbe... more The Late Persian-period minting authority of Samaria issued coins with a surprisingly large number of motifs. As part of the Corpus of Samarian Coinage project several early Samarian issues were found struck over existing coin types rather than on blank flans. Typological and metallurgical analysis of a repeated overstrike where a ‘winged Bes’ m‘h was struck over an
earlier ‘lyre player’ m‘h, sheds light on both coin types and the denominational series to which they belonged. The study provides an important chronological anchor regarding the relative chronologies of these types and may offer clues regarding the formative phase of Samaria’s minting authority
INR (17), 2022
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INR 16, 2021
Roughly 10% of fourth century BCE Samarian coin types display Sidonian coin motifs. Similarities ... more Roughly 10% of fourth century BCE Samarian coin types display Sidonian coin motifs. Similarities between Sidonian-styled Samarian coins and Phoenician coins have caused misclassifications, which are addressed in this paper. Eight new types of Sidonian-styled Samarian coins are defined. The origin and meanings of the adopted motifs are considered. The historical context of Sidonian-styled issues in relation to the political character of Samaria and Sidon during the fourth century BCE is discussed.
TRANSFORMATIONS AND CRISIS IN THE MEDITERRANEAN “IDENTITY” AND INTERCULTURALITY IN THE LEVANT AND PHOENICIAN WEST DURING THE 5TH-2ND CENTURIES BCE, 2021
Phoenician coin minting during the Persian period in light of contemporaneous minting practices i... more Phoenician coin minting during the Persian period in light of contemporaneous minting practices in the southern Levant.
The group of Persian-period Philistian coins described here was found during two seasons of renew... more The group of Persian-period Philistian coins described here was found during two seasons of renewed excavations at the site of Ashdod-Yam. This discovery, from a site located in the heart of Philistia and connected to Ashdod, allows the reassessment of certain types of Persian-period
coins, hitherto known only from unprovenanced collections.
Thesis Chapters by Mati Johananoff
Books by Mati Johananoff
THE JESELSOHN COLLECTION OF COINS OF THE HOLY LAND - PERSIAN AND EARLY HELLENISTIC COINAGE, 2024
The book contains a catalogue of the largest collection of early coinages minted locally in the s... more The book contains a catalogue of the largest collection of early coinages minted locally in the southern Levant during the fifth-fourth centuries BCE. The two centuries of Achaemenid dominion in the Near East, from 538 until 332 BCE, constitute a crucial period in the history of the southern part of the Fifth Persian Satrapy, also known as “Beyond the River” (‘Abar Naharâ). This period is marked by a profound transformation in the economic, political and cultural life of the region. From the mid-fifth century BCE we witness a transition in the means of payment from the use of weighed metal (mostly silver) to that of foreign coinage, and, subsequently, to local issues. The issuing of local coins by civic minting authorities should be seen as a part of a longer process of monetization by which the use of precious metals in various shapes for economic transactions was transformed into the use of coins for such transactions in the southern Levant.
The current volume, covers the Persian and Early Hellenistic Coinage, i.e. from the Persian (Achaemenid) and early Hellenistic (Ptolemaic and Seleucid) periods, roughly 450 to 250 BCE, as well as three Hacksilber and jewelry hoards and varia. This includes the coinage of Philistia, Samaria, Judah and possibly Dor and Edom.
THE JESELSOHN COLLECTION OF COINS FROM THE HOLY LAND - PERSIAN AND EARLY HELLENISTIC COINAGE, 2024
Volume II will cover the city coins of the Hellenistic and Roman periods, i.e. from Alexander the... more Volume II will cover the city coins of the Hellenistic and Roman periods, i.e. from Alexander the Great's conquest of the area in 333 BCE to the cessation of city-coin minting under the Roman Emperor Gallienus from 258 to 268 CE. Volume III will be dedicated to Jewish coinage. It will cover the period from the Hasmoneans-John Hyrcanus I (134-104 BCE)-to the end of the Bar Kokhba War in 136 CE. Volume IV, which was the first to be published in 2022, covers the coinage of Islamic rulers, from the conquest of the area by the Arabs in 634 CE until the end of the minting activity in this area around the end of the thirteenth century CE. It also covers the coins of the Crusaders, between 1099 and 1291 CE.
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Papers by Mati Johananoff
KEY WORDS: Levantine coins, Samaria, Early Hellenistic, uncertain attributions
Keywords: Coin finds, Seleucid coins, Roman coins, Byzantine coins, Islamic coins, Tell Iẓṭabba, Nysa-Scythopolis, Beth Shean
earlier ‘lyre player’ m‘h, sheds light on both coin types and the denominational series to which they belonged. The study provides an important chronological anchor regarding the relative chronologies of these types and may offer clues regarding the formative phase of Samaria’s minting authority
coins, hitherto known only from unprovenanced collections.
Thesis Chapters by Mati Johananoff
Books by Mati Johananoff
The current volume, covers the Persian and Early Hellenistic Coinage, i.e. from the Persian (Achaemenid) and early Hellenistic (Ptolemaic and Seleucid) periods, roughly 450 to 250 BCE, as well as three Hacksilber and jewelry hoards and varia. This includes the coinage of Philistia, Samaria, Judah and possibly Dor and Edom.
KEY WORDS: Levantine coins, Samaria, Early Hellenistic, uncertain attributions
Keywords: Coin finds, Seleucid coins, Roman coins, Byzantine coins, Islamic coins, Tell Iẓṭabba, Nysa-Scythopolis, Beth Shean
earlier ‘lyre player’ m‘h, sheds light on both coin types and the denominational series to which they belonged. The study provides an important chronological anchor regarding the relative chronologies of these types and may offer clues regarding the formative phase of Samaria’s minting authority
coins, hitherto known only from unprovenanced collections.
The current volume, covers the Persian and Early Hellenistic Coinage, i.e. from the Persian (Achaemenid) and early Hellenistic (Ptolemaic and Seleucid) periods, roughly 450 to 250 BCE, as well as three Hacksilber and jewelry hoards and varia. This includes the coinage of Philistia, Samaria, Judah and possibly Dor and Edom.