Shekel

The study deals with the coins issued by the Jews during the first revolt against Rome. The main literary source describing the events is the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who was also one of the leaders of the revolt. The coins were minted during the first five years, from the outbreak of the war in 66 c.e., till the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 c.e. The revolt continued till the capture of the last stronghold of Masada in 73 c.e., but no coins were found bearing a date later than the fifth year. This may indicate that the manufacturing place was in Jerusalem, and once the city was captured by the Romans, the minting had been terminated. The coins were produced in silver and bronze. The silver coins were made of high quality metal and according to high minting standards. All silver coins bear the slogan: "Jerusalem the Holy", and indicate their weight unit: “Shekel of Israel,” “Half of a shekel” or “Quarter of a shekel.” The bronze coins of the second and third years, which carry the slogan “Freedom of Zion,” are abundant and negligently manufactured. The bronze coins of the fourth year, which are of different denominations, are of a slightly higher quality and bear the legend: “To the redemption of Zion.” The coins minted by the Jewish rebels during the revolt are a first-hand evidence independent of literary sources.

The word בֶּקַע, beka (a half shekel), its etymology and it's usage in the Hebrew Bible (Gen 24:22; Exod 38:26) and epigraphy/archaeology is discussed in this paper. Also the weight standard (shekel) which was applied is discussed. The article is published on the site of the Semantics of Ancient Hebrew Database (SAHD): http://sahd-online.com/.

In trying to determine how to show the amount of silver and gold that was brought for the
construction of the tabernacle in Exodus 38:25-26, calculations were made using the conversions
implied in the immediate texts. Then, the total was compared with Ezekiel's description of setting up
the new Temple measuring system, and using the Babylonian mina which is presumably the measuring
system with which Ezekiel would have been familiar. It is also reasonable that he was re-establishing
the original temple/tabernacle/sanctuary shekel's weight, since his conversion between shekels and
mina do not match the reported Babylonian conversion factor. By substitution, then, the Sanctuary
Shekel as described in Exodus 38:25-26 is very likely 10.0 g. A literature search confirms this
conclusion in at least 2 sources. The conclusion that there were therefore only 50 shekels per mina in
the Hebraic system is confirmed in at least one source. The Troy system of weights may be based on
the talent from the Mosaic era which uses the 10.0 g per sanctuary shekel.

The study deals with the coins issued by the Jews during the first revolt against Rome. The main literary source describing the events is the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus, who was also one of the leaders of the revolt. The coins were minted during the first five years, from the outbreak of the war in 66 c.e., till the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 c.e. The revolt continued till the capture of the last stronghold of Masada in 73 c.e., but no coins were found bearing a date later than the fifth year. This may indicate that the manufacturing place was in Jerusalem, and once the city was captured by the Romans, the minting had been terminated. The coins were produced in silver and bronze. The silver coins were made of high quality metal and according to high minting standards. All silver coins bear the slogan: "Jerusalem the Holy", and indicate their weight unit: “Shekel of Israel,” “Half of a shekel” or “Quarter of a shekel.” The bronze coins of the second and third yea...

This is a new popular book by the Modern Money curator at the British Museum, Thomas Hockenhull. I didn't really write a chapter for it but helped Paramdip Khera draft a section on the Rupee which was later revised by Paramdip, Tom, and Leigh Gardner (at the LSE) to become the chapter on the Rupee.