Obv.: Bunch of grapes surrounded by paleo-Hebrew inscription
(Shimon). In the margins, vestiges of Latin inscription. Rev: Flagon with handle and palm branch (‘lulav’), surrounded by inscription
(year two of the freedom of Israel). The letters Aleph (
) and Resh (
) changed places. In the margins, vestiges of Latin inscription. 133/4 C.E. 3.10 grams, 19¾ mm, axis 12. Cf. Ya’akov Meshorer, A Treasury of Jewish Coins (New York 2001), pl. 67, no. 253a. The Bar Kokhba Revolt (132-135 CE) used similar symbols and inscriptions to the First Revolt. It broke out some seventy years after the destruction of the Second Temple and fifteen years after a Jewish revolt in the diaspora. The tragic consequences of the Revolt led to a pun on the name Bar Kokhba, Bar Cosiba, “son of the lie”. Bar-Kokhba coins were struck on Roman coins.