The first Jewish coin depicts a mysterious god on a winged wheel.
The British Museum contains a unique drachma, called the "first Jewish coin". It never ceases to attract the attention of historians, archaeologists and numismatists. They all confess to their powerlessness to find a suitable explanation for her appearance. The reason for such close attention of scientists is the image on the reverse of the coin, which is considered a unique portrait of the "God of Israel" - Yahweh.
Three bearded men
The first Jewish coin is a silver drachma weighing 3.29 grams and 12 millimeters in diameter. On the obverse there is a bearded head in a Corinthian helmet, turned to the right and depicted in two thirds. The reverse depicts a bearded male figure sitting on a winged wheel, facing the right. The right part of the body is hidden by long, flowing clothes, and a bird of prey sits on the left outstretched arm: an eagle, a falcon or a hawk. What kind of bird is not easy to understand, too conventional drawing.
At the bottom right is another image that resembles a grotesque bearded face or mask. Three Aramaic letters are visible above the seated figure, which some read as YHW (YHWE), others - YHD (EHUD - “Judea”). According to some researchers, it seems that the Old Testament deity itself saddled the winged wheel. This in itself is surprising, because his images are prohibited among the Jews. But even if it is not Yahweh, there are still plenty of questions. Indeed, on the Jewish coins of a later time, which fully corresponded to the biblical principles and 10 commandments, they never depicted gods, kings or emperors.
To understand the reasons for the appearance of this mysterious image on the "first coin", it was very important for the researchers to identify the male portrait on the obverse. But then their opinions were divided. Some suggested that we could be talking about a person of Greek origin, probably a strategist who was at the head of the army. It is known that in the 4th century BC, namely at this time the drachma was born, the Persian kings (Judea at that time was under Persian rule) actively used Greek mercenaries. Some of them managed to make a brilliant career at the court of the Persian kings from the Achaemenid dynasty. For example, Mentor of Rhodes was even appointed governor of the coastal regions of Asia Minor.
A curious detail of the male portrait is the Corinthian helmet. There are no other images of Persian kings or generals wearing a helmet of this type, therefore, it is most likely that the Greek strategist is depicted on the coin. Historians believe that he held a high administrative position in Palestine in the 4th century BC and minted coins to pay the salaries of his mercenaries.
Promotional video:
According to other connoisseurs of numismatics - on the coin is a portrait of Bagoi, the governor of Judea during the reign of the Persian king Artaxerxes II. Also among the assumptions - King Minos, known from myths, the god of war Ares, the founder of one of the Middle Eastern cities … True, the proximity of characters from ancient Greek mythology to Yahweh confuses the situation even more. Remains a mystery and the bearded face-mask opposite the "wheel of Yahweh".
Lily flower
Equally early Jewish drachmas, which can also rightly be called the first, form part of the collection of 1,200 Persian silver coins held in the Museum of Archeology in Jerusalem. The collection of these coins also dates back to the period of the Persian conquest of Judea.
Having conquered the Middle East, the Persians for the first time minted for themselves from electrum - an alloy of silver and gold - their currency in Lydia, a province of Asia Minor. After that, the minting of coins from the precious metal spread throughout the empire. In the Jerusalem collection there are Persian coins bearing the inscription "Judea", but there is no similar one described above.
The graphics of the first Jewish drachma coin are a fusion of artistic styles, but clearly with a disregard for local religious traditions. Later, between 350 and 333 BC, a wide variety of silver coins were issued with the inscription YHD - the name of the province of Judea in the Persian Empire. The lily flower depicted on some of them later became the symbol of the State of Israel. The lily is now depicted on an Israeli one shekel coin.
Magazine: Mysteries of History No. 14, Mikhail Efimov