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Friday, April 21, 2023

The coins of the Jewish revolts and modern Zionism

ARCHAEOLOGY AND POLITICS: The debt to the Jewish rebels against Rome - opinion. Brushing aside negative portrayals of the ancient rebels, the Zionists made an ideological connection to them because they had bequeathed an important legacy

The debt to the Jewish rebels against Rome - part 2 - opinion. The journey of the First and Second Jewish Revolts through coinage. Both articles are by Robert Silverman. From part 2:

In part one, I described two rebel concepts broadcast to the ancient Jews through coins, which were the most effective mass media of the day.

First, the rebels insisted on Hebrew as the language of the state and on their coins, at a time when Aramaic and Greek predominated. Second, the rebels named their new state Israel, though they lived in a Roman province called Judea. Israel was a connection to the First Temple and as the name for the entire people, was an attempt to internationalize the revolt and recruit Jews outside Judea in the rival Parthian empire.

Here we will discuss two other concepts on revolt coins. Together they define the political legacy of the rebels to all of us who live in modern Israel.

Cross-file under Numismatics.

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