Saturday, August 9, 2008

Bronze Prutah of Alexander Jannaeus, king of Judaea, 103-76 B.C.

Obverse BASILEWS ALEXANDROU (of King Alexander), around upside-down anchor (adopted from the Seleucids, who used it to symbolize their naval strength)
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Reverse Star (or wheel) (symbolizing heaven) with eight rays, surrounded by diadem. "Yehonatan the King" between rays (in Hebrew)
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See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lesson_of_the_widow's_mite
'Mite' is the 1611 King James' Version translation for this coin.
Though the scripture probably refers to the Lepton (a smaller coin of denomination lower than the Prutah), both Lepton and Prutah are usually referred to as "widow's mites".
Differentiationg a Prutah from a Lepton: The anchor depicted on a Lepton (shown below for comparison) usually has a full circle around it, while the Prutah has writing around the anchor. Also, the Lepton usually has writing around the star, while the Prutah usually has a full circle.
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