Provincial Rome, Phoenicia, shekel (Judas’s silver coin), dated 135 of the local era = 9/10 A.D., minted at Tyre.
Obverse: Head of Melkart wearing a laurel wreath, facing right.
Rev. TYP[OY IEPAΣ] KAI AΣYΛOY, an eagle standing facing left on the prow of a galley, a palm branch on its right wing, the letters ΡΛE (date) above a mace; in the right field, above the monogram ΦΔN, the Phoenician letter B between the eagle’s talons.
Silver, 12.76 g, 25.5 mm. DCA Tyre 483; HGC 10, 357; RPC I 4654.
Condition III-, a well-preserved and rare coin minted during the lifetime of Jesus
According to the prevailing opinion among scholars, shekels such as the coin offered here should be identified with the silver coins, 30 of which Judas Iscariot received for betraying Christ. Tyre shekels and half-shekels were the sole legal tender for paying the mandatory tax to the Temple in Jerusalem. From 126/125 BCE, they were minted in Tyre. The piece on offer was minted and was in circulation in Judea during the lifetime of Jesus Christ.
