1/2 Prutah - Herod the Great

Herod ruled as a client king under Roman authority, his legitimacy always dependent on keeping Rome satisfied rather than his own subjects. These small bronzes were struck not to impress but to keep commerce moving in a kingdom perpetually on the edge of internal revolt. Hendin 1190 is among the more common of his issues, yet the survival rate of legible specimens is low — the alloy degrades badly in Judean soil conditions, and most excavated examples are barely attributable.