18 / 120
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Judaea, Hasmonean Kingdom. Mattathias Antigonos (Mattatayah). Æ 8 Prutot (14.11 g), 40-37 BCE.
Jerusalem. ‘Mattatayah the High Priest and Council of the Jews’ (Paleo-Hebrew), double cornucopiae. Rev.
[
BA
C
ILEW
]C
ANTI
[
GONOU
], ivy wreath tied with ribbons. (TJC 36; Hendin 1162). Dark desert-green
patina. Another outstanding example. Choice very fine.
$ 600
ex Superior (3 December 1987), lot 559.
The 8-prutah and the following 4-prutah denominations of Mattathias Antigonus take their typological cues from the coinages of
earlier Hasmonaean rulers as a means of presenting him as a legitimate ruler. The cornucopiae and wreath types look back to the
heady days of John Hyrcanus I (134-104 BCE) and the foundation of the fully autonomous Hasmonaean Jewish state while the
Paleo-Hebrew legend identifying him as High Priest and the Greek legend naming him as king follow the pattern established by
Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BCE).
27
Judaea, Hasmonean Kingdom. Mattathias Antigonos (Mattatayah). Æ 4 Prutot (7.69 g), 40-37 BCE.
Jerusalem. ‘Mattatayah the High Priest’ (Paleo-Hebrew), cornucopiae tied with ribbons, decorated with
vine-leaf and grapes. Rev.
BA
C
IL
/
EW
C
AN
/
TIGON
in three lines within wreath tied at left. (TJC 37a;
Hendin 1163). Boldly contrasting dark brown and sandy green patina. Choice very fine.
$ 400
Purchased privately from H. Kriendler, October 1996.
28
Judaea, Hasmonean Kingdom. Mattathias Antigonos (Mattatayah). Æ Prutah (1.89 g), 40-37 BCE.
Jerusalem. ‘Mattatayah’ (Paleo-Hebrew) within wreath; all within circular beaded border. Rev. Double
cornucopiae adorned with ribbons, pomegranate between horns, within circular beaded border. (Hendin
1167)
Very Rare.
Dark green-brown patina with light earthen deposits. . Choice very fine.
$ 800
Purchased privately from D. Hendin at the NYINC, December 1990.
This prutah of Mattathias Antigonus consciously looks back to the issues of John Hyrcanus I and other Hasmonaean ancestors
as a means of casting himself as the legitimate king of the Jews when Herod and the Romans sought to remove him and bring an
inglorious end to the Hasmonaean dynasty.
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