Major mints: Jerusalem, Askalon.

A portion of the ancient world whose influence is all out of proportion to its size or political power, this small district was the home of two major religions, Judaism and Christianity; the latter is still the numerically largest religion in the world today. Its Jewish history begins with the wanderings of the patriarch Abraham, some time after the breakup of the Ur III kingdom; its coinage production, however, begins only with the Persians.

The territory of Judaea was the southern kingdom in First Temple times, up to the Babylonian exile. After the return of the exiles under the Persians the northern part was occupied by the Samaritans, a mixed populations of deportees from other places settled there by the Assyrians and their successors. In Judaea Jerusalem was rebuilt, and somewhere near there the so-called Jehud small silver coins were issued.

After the time of Alexander, the district passed to the Ptolemies, then to the Seleukids in 201 BC. When Antiochos IV Epiphanes (175-163 BC) attempted to force the Jews to conform to his version of Greek paganism the result was the revolt of the Maccabees, beginning in 164, which ended in more or less complete independence. Seleukid overlordship became more nominal after that period.

The first Hasmonean coins were issued by John Hyrcanus I (135-104 BC); the last, by Matthias Antigonos (40-37 BC). These are the well-known Jewish bronzes, most of which bear inscriptions in ancient Hebrew letters.

The Romans intervened in the politics of the area, setting up their clients. Their first one was Hyrcanus II, installed by Pompey. When Pompey took Jerusalem in 63 BC he went into the Temple and, out of curiosity, looked in the Holy of Holies, and was surprised to find no image or anything else. For this sacrilege the Jews condemned him, and hence supported Caesar.

The Romans then supported Herod, who was not a Jew, but an Idumean (i. e., Edomite); these people had been forcibly converted to Judaism by the Hasmoneans. His misdeeds were legendary; Augustus put it thus: It is better to be Herods pig than his son. He seems to have become mentally unstable as he approached his demise; he planned to have all the leading Jews massacred on his own death, then, he said, he would have no lack of mourners.

Herod died in 4 BC, regretted by none. His kingdom was divided between his sons Archelaus, Antipas and Philip. The former was a harsh ruler, and was removed in favor of a direct Roman governor (the Procurator). The second was that Herod who featured in the story of John the Baptist, and in the accounts of the trial of Jesus. The third is the only Jewish ruler to place his portrait on his coins.

The Roman procurators issued coins in the name of the emperor. Those of Pilate are distinctive, as they feature Roman religious symbols (the Lituus, a priests wand, and a simpulum, a dipper for making libations).

One unusual sort of coin was the Jerusalem imitations of the Tyre shekels. The Tyre shekel was the only acceptable coin used for Temple offerings, despite its overtly pagan symbolism. It appears that the Tyre mint ceased producing these coins around 18 BC, and later coins are quite different in fabric and workmanship. The evidence in general indicates that these were struck in or near Jerusalem for use at the Temple, and they were issued up to 69/70 AD.

The two Jewish Wars involved the production of coinage as a badge of sovereignty by the Jews. When the Second Revolt of Bar Kochva was finally put down the Romans did their best to eradicate all traces of Jewish national thought. How well they succeeded can be seen by the present-day coinage issues of the Jerusalem mint.

The Romans issued coinage from various cities, including Jerusalem itself, as Aelia Capitolina, after the crushing of the Revolts. Some of the cities even issued Judaea Capta bronzes under Vespasian. A few were issued as late as the third century; many cities were destroyed at the time of the Bar Cochva War, to their coinage ends with Hadrian.