A silver denarius (‘Zuz’), the second year of Bar Kokhba Revolt. Obv.: Paleo-Hebrew inscription
(abbreviation of Shimon) in wreath. Rev: Two trumpets; around and between, the inscription
(year two of the freedom of Israel). 133/4 C.E. 2.72 grams, 18¾ mm, axis 1. Cf. Ya’akov Meshorer, A Treasury of Jewish Coins (New York 2001), pl. 66, no. 243. 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.