Prutah - Alexander Jannaeus

Alexander Jannaeus was the first Hasmonean ruler to mint coins with a Hebrew inscription on one face and a Greek inscription on the other — a deliberate bilingual policy reflecting the dual cultural pressures his kingdom navigated. His reign saw Judea expand to its greatest territorial extent since Solomon, funded in part by near-constant military campaigning. The prutah was the workhorse of that economy, struck in enormous quantities across roughly three decades of rule.

Jannaeus faced violent domestic opposition from the Pharisees; according to Josephus, he crucified 800 of them in a single episode. Some scholars have connected periods of die variety proliferation to specific political crises during his reign, though attribution remains contested.