Divinity Atlas

Sacred Correspondences
Sacred Art & Iconography

Coin of Herod the Great, Jerusalem (Harvard Art Museums, 37 to 4 BCE)

Bronze coin, 37 to 4 BCE, Harvard Art Museums

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A bronze coin struck under Herod the Great's reign in Jerusalem, 37 to 4 BCE. Following the aniconic convention of Jewish coinage of the period, it carries no royal portrait: the obverse shows a tripod with a lebes on a podium, the reverse a helmet flanked by palms and topped with a star. Held today by the Harvard Art Museums.

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Depicts

Herod the Great, Figures

The museum's own title names Herod the Great as the coin's issuing authority, but the museum's own description confirms the coin carries royal insignia, a tripod and a helmet, rather than his likeness, in keeping with contemporary Jewish aniconic coinage.

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