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Prutah - Herod the Great

Issuer Judea
Year 40 BC
Type Standard circulation coin
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Reverse description An aphlaston (the ornamental stern piece of a warship) depicted centrally in the field, flanked to the left by a regnal year designation and to the right by a monogram. The Greek royal inscription runs around the periphery within a border of dots, referencing Herod's third year of reign. The overall style reflects Hellenistic influence on Herodian coinage.
Reverse script Greek
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Additional information

Herod received his kingship from the Roman Senate in 40 BC — the very year this prutah was struck — but he did not actually control Judea until 37 BC, after a military campaign backed by Rome drove out the Parthian-installed Hasmonean ruler Antigonus II. The coin was issued in anticipation of a reign, not from within one.

Hendin 1172 is among the more reliably attributed of Herod's issues, a series complicated by the absence of royal portraiture — a deliberate concession to Jewish religious sensibility that Herod maintained despite his otherwise aggressive Romanization of the court.

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