4 Prutot - Herod the Great

Herod was not yet in physical possession of Judea when this coin was struck. The Roman Senate had declared him King of Judea in 40 BC, but the Parthians still held Jerusalem and had installed Antigonus II as a rival ruler. Herod spent the next three years fighting his way into his own kingdom. These bronzes were likely struck as a political assertion of legitimate authority — coinage as claim rather than administration.

Hendin 1170 is one of the more frequently encountered Herodian types, though surfaces are almost always rough from burial conditions typical of Levantine bronze finds.