 FIRST REVOLT. Shekel, Year 5 (21 March-4 August 70 A.D.). Chalice with beaded rim, date above; Paleo-Hebrew legend around Shekel of Israel. Rv. Branch with three pomegranates; Jerusalem the Holy. 13.99 grams. AJC II, 253, 31; Hendin 671. Evidence of die shift on the obverse. Extremely Fine. An attractive example of this Extremely rare and historic coin. (Est. $20,000-$25,000)
Rebellion long lay pregnant in the air of Judaea. From the time of Agrippa's death and the appointment of the first Roman prefect, clashes between the Romans and Jews grew common. Class struggles, the naked animosity between Palestine's Jews and the Hellenized Syrians, and fighting between Jewish factions only helped to spice the seeds of revolt. The dam broke finally under the procurator Gessius Florus (64-66 A.D.), an Ionian Greek.
From the venal, cruel and abusive Florus, the Jews suffered insult after insult, culminating in his extortive demand for 17 Talents of silver from the Temple for his own usage. Outraged, the Jews mocked Florus by taking to the streets to pass the beggar's bowl around for ''poor destitute Florus.'' His plumes ruffled, Florus brought troops into Jerusalem and had the upper city sacked. Some 600 Jews were killed, many scourged and crucified.
When the Roman cohorts seemed intent on occupying the Temple, throngs of Jews attacked from the rooftops with stones and arrows. They then destroyed all approaches to the Temple and ceased the daily sacrifice to the emperor (a tradition that went back to the time of Augustus). In 66 A.D., the rebellion had finally become fact.
The Roman proconsul of Syria, Cestius Gallus marched on Jerusalem with a great host of men, including the Fulminata, the 12th Roman Legion. On a Sabbath day of the Jewish festival of Sukkot, Cestius was before Jerusalem. Repelled by the impassioned defenders, Cestius withdrew. The rebels pursued the retreating Romans and turned the withdrawal into a rout, reducing the Roman forces to a humiliated rabble.
At this time Silver Shekels, Half Shekels and a small number of Quarter Shekels began to be struck (along with Bronze issues), dated Year One (of the revolt). Clearly this was symbolic that the Jewish people were now independent of the Roman yoke, for only the Roman emperor had the right to strike Silver coinage. We do not know whether the coinage was issued by one of the factions of the time or whether it was struck under a central governing body.
In Rome, meanwhile, Nero dispatched his most distinguished general Flavius Vespasianus to crush the rebellion. Vespasian was given near unlimited power and the cream of Rome's martial forces. The Galilee was encircled and it fell within a few months. By mid-68 A.D., the Roman troops had smashed the rebellion throughout Palestine save for Jerusalem and a few zealot keeps such as Masada. Nero's death though spun Rome into civil war. The eastern legions declared for Vespasian, and within a year he had successfully taken the imperial throne. Titus, his son, was sent off to finish the job in Judaea. The siege of Jerusalem had begun (thus coins of the Jewish War dated Year 4 (69/70 A.D.), and Year 5 are properly siege money).
Within Jerusalem, the three main factions: the zealots led by Eleazar, the extremist Sicarii (''dagger-wielders,'' a name coined by Josephus for they ran through crowds stabbing those suspected of being Roman sympathizers) headed by Simon ben Giora and their opposition led by John of Gischala continued to war against each other as well as the Romans.
Outside, the Roman battering rams and siege engines toiled remorselessly.
With Jerusalem teetering on collapse and their financial resources likewise nearing an end, it is likely that the rebels melted utilitarian and decorative silver objects to strike these Year 5 Shekels in the last 137 days of the rebellion.
As the walls came down, the city blighted by famine and plague fell. Titus, it is said, ordered the Temple saved, but his troops burnt it to the ground. The discovery of Year 5 Shekels at the fortress of Masada indicated that some survivors fled the destruction of the city and found shelter at Masada, one of the last pockets of resistence.
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