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Figure 14.5F Copper-alloy coin minted in Judaea under Tiberius (14–37 CE). These issues bear a date according to the regnal years of Tiberius, year 16 (29/30 CE, not visible on this specimen), which places it during the time of the prefect Pontius Pilate. The obverse shows a ritual ladle (simpulum) and reads “of Tiberius Caesar, year 16”; and the reverse bears three ears of corn bound together, with the legend “Julia (Livia, the mother) of Caesar.” The coin does not bear any reference to Pilate, and, in deference to Jewish sensibilities to graven images, avoids imperial portraits in favor of inanimate objects; but some have seen in the depiction of a Roman ritual implement evidence of Pilate’s supposedly antagonistic stance toward Jews.

Figure 14.6A Silver tetradrachm minted at Aradus, dated year 172 of the city’s era (88/87 BCE). The obverse bears a head of a city-goddess; the reverse shows a winged figure of Nike holding an aphlaston (the decorative element of a ship’s stern). The inscription reads “of the Aradians”; the letters on the left-hand side combine Greek and Phoenician letters. The upper line is a number, 182, the year of minting; the function of the others is uncertain but they were probably control marks or initials of officials.