HEROD ANTIPAS is an importantcharacter in the story of Jesus Christ

as told in the Gospels. Saint Luke in hisGospel fixes the time when Jesus beganhis ministry and John the Baptist beganpreaching, by referring to Herod Anti-pas: In the fifteenth year of TiberiusCaesar when Pontius Pilate was governorof Judaea, Herod tetrarch of Galilee, his

brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea andTrachonitis . . . (Luke 3:1)We know that Tiberius became emperor

in 14 AD, and therefore his fifteenth yearwas 28 AD, counting inclusively. HerodAntipas had been tetrarch of Galilee andPeraea (Figure 2 - map) since the deathof his father, Herod the Great, in 4 BC.The word, ‘tetrarch’, means the ruler of a

quarter, and Herod’s territory of Galileeand Peraea equaled about a quarter ofhis father’s kingdom. Herod Archelaeus,another brother of Herod Antipas, hadruled Judaea, which equaled about halfof his father’s kingdom, until he wasdeposed by the Romans in 6 AD, andthereafter Judaea was ruled by Romangovernors. From 26 to 36 AD the gover-nor of Judaea was Pontius Pilate, and thecrucifixion of Jesus probably occurredin 30 AD. When Herod Antipas became tetrarch

he made Sepphoris his capital. In Hebrewits name is Zippori. The city stood on a

Figure 5 –The beach at Tiberias. (Photo courtesy of Biblewalks.com)

Figure 2 – Map of the region. The pink areasare the realm of Herod Antipas.

Figure 1 – Painting ‘Christ before Herod’ by Duccio di Buoninsegna, 1260 – 1318 AD. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

hill overlooking the fertile region ofGalilee. People have lived in the areasince prehistoric times, and the hill itselfhas been occupied continually from about600 BC to 1948 when the modern stateof Israel came into being and the Arabvillage on the site came to an end. Todayon the top of the hill there is a squarestone building known as the citadel. Itwas erected in the Byzantine period, usedas a watchtower by the Crusaders andreconstructed in the 19th century as a

schoolhouse for the Arab children in thevillage. When Herod the Great died in 4 BC a

rebellion broke out in Sepphoris, but theRoman governor of Syria captured thecity and burnt it to the ground. HerodAntipas had to rebuild it. He called itAutocratis (‘Emperor’ in English) inhonour of the Roman emperor. The villageof Nazareth, where Jesus grew up, isonly four miles to the south-east (Figure3) and scholars have wondered whatinfluence it had on him, especially as hewas a carpenter (Mark 6:3) and there isa tradition that Mary’s parents lived inSepphoris.Up to the present century it was ass-

umed that Antipas issued no coins fromSepphoris and the only coins that circu-lated in Galilee when Sepphoris wasthe capital were bronze coins minted atJerusalem and silver coins minted atTyre. These silver coins were needed by

the Jews to pay their taxes. David Hendin,a Jewish numismatist who works withthe archaeologists at Sepphoris, discov-ered a bronze coin that was almost cer-tainly minted at Sepphoris by HerodAntipas (Figure 4). He reported it in theIsrael Numismatic Journal (‘A New CoinType of Herod Antipas’, INJ 15: 56-61,2003 – 2006).The coin is only 14 mms in diameter.

On the obverse there is a grain of wheat

Figure 4 – Coin minted at Sepphorisin 1 BC. Hendin 1198.

(Image copyright by David Hendin)

Figure 3 – View of Sepphoris from Nazareth. The citadel is visible on the hill. (Photo: Joint Sepphoris Project)

Figure 7 – Reeds growing on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. (Photo courtesy of Ferrell Jenkins)

Figure 6 – Bronze coin minted at Tiberias in20/21 AD. This is the quarter denomination,Hendin 1201. Diameter 16 mms. (Collectionof St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane)

or barley with the surrounding Greekinscription: TETPA[PX]HC∆. This trans-lates as ‘Tetrarch 4’ (i.e. tetrarch for year4, which is 1 BC). On the reverse thereis a palm tree with seven branches, andthe Greek inscription HPW (HRO, i.e.Herod). The date palm was a symbol of theland of the Jews and its seven branchesreferred to the Menorah, the great seven-branched candelabra that stood in theTemple in Jerusalem. This is the firsttime that a palm tree appears on a Jewishcoin, but the Greek letters on this coinare particularly noteworthy because ifSepphoris was a thoroughly Jewish cityone would have expected Hebrew orAramaic. The use of Greek suggests thata sizable proportion of the populationcould read it and that Hellenistic influ-ences were present in the city.It is quite possible that Jesus held one

of these small ‘grain coins’ in his hand atsome time. Thinking about this, Christ-ians would immediately recall the timeswhen Jesus mentioned wheat, especially

when he said, “Very truly, I tell you, unlessa grain of wheat falls into the earth anddies, it remains just a single grain; butif it dies, it bears much fruit.” (John12:24) He was referring to his death andresurrection. In about 18 AD Antipas moved his cap-

ital to Tiberias on the shore of the Sea ofGalilee (Figure 5). Although Sepphorisis not mentioned in the Bible, Tiberiasis: Then some boats from Tiberias landednear the place where the people hadeaten the bread after the Lord had giventhanks. (John 6:23) Antipas named thecity in honour of the Roman emperor,Tiberius, and when he issued coins in20/21 AD he put on the obverse the nameTIBEPIAC (Greek for Tiberias) in awreath. On the reverse there was a reedwith the surrounding Greek inscriptionHPW∆OY TETPAPXOY (of Herod Tetrarch)and the date L K∆, i.e. year 24 (Figure 6).There were four denominations: full, half,quarter and eighth. Reeds grew on theshore of the Sea of Galilee (Figure7) andthe reed on these coins was probablyintended to refer to its location. Antipasmight have chosen the site because therewere hot springs there, but a cemeterywas nearby and strict Jews would haveconsidered the area unclean. Because thereed could symbolize growth and fertility(and hence prosperity and wealth) it has

Figure 8 – Bronze coin minted at Tiberias in29/30 AD. This is the half denomination,Hendin 1204. Diameter 18 mms. (CNG Auction91, Lot 379)

Figure 9 – Bronze coin minted at Tiberias in39/40 AD. This is the full denomination,Hendin 1215. Diameter 26 mms. (Imagecopyright by David Hendin)

been suggested that Antipas put it onhis coins to encourage Jews to come to hisnew city. In other words these coins werea kind of an advertisement. There is norecord of Jesus having gone there, butwhen he asked a crowd of people, “Whatdid you go into the desert to see? A reedswayed by the wind?” (Luke 7:24) hemight have been referring to Antipasand his wavering character.

In any case, when Antipas issued newcoins in 29/30 AD the reed had beenreplaced by a palm branch (Figure 8).Apart from the dates there was no otherchange in the coins issued in 30/31 and33/34 AD. When Tiberius died in 36 ADAntipas flattered the new emperor Calig-ula by putting his name, Gaius CaesarGermanicus, in a wreath on the obverseof the coins that he issued in 39/40 AD.On the reverse of the largest denominat-ion he put a palm tree, again with sevenbranches (Figure 9). On the half denom-

ination he put a palm branch (Figure10) and on the quarter, a bunch of dates(Figure 11). The eighth denominationwas similar to the half, but with abbrev-iated inscriptions. Unfortunately the flattery of Caligula

did not help Antipas in his subsequentcareer. Antipas was jealous of his nephew,Agrippa I, who had been given Philip’sterritory with the title of king, while heremained only a tetrarch. With his wife,Herodias, he sailed to Rome to argue hiscase; but Agrippa was a personal friendof the emperor and when he accusedAntipas of being an ally of the Parthi-ans, who were the enemies of Rome,Antipas and Herodias were banished toLugdunum in Gaul. We do not know what Antipas looked

like because in accordance with Jewishlaw he did not put his image on coins,but some of his relatives did. Philip thetetrarch ruled an area with a largenon-Jewish population and his portraitappears on his coins (Figure 12). Also theportrait of Agrippa I appears on his coinsminted at Caesarea Maritima, which wasa cosmopolitan city (Figure 13). Thesecoins give us some idea what Antipasmight have looked like. It is unlikelythat he had a beard, and his image inthe painting by Duccio di Buoninsegna(Figure 1) is probably wrong. The rest ofthe painting, however, is as described inthe Gospels: Jesus stands before Antipasand ‘the chief priests and the teachers ofthe law were standing there, vehementlyaccusing him. Then Herod and his sol-diers ridiculed and mocked him.’ (Luke23:10,11) It is interesting to speculatehow the course of history would havechanged if Antipas had said, “He is aninnocent man. Free him.”

� � �

Figure10 – Bronze coin minted at Tiberias in39/40 AD. This is the half denomination,Hendin 1216. Diameter 19 mms. (Collectionof St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane)

Figure 11 – Bronze coin minted at Tiberiasin 39/40 AD. This is the quarter denomination,Hendin 1217. Diameter 16 mms. (Image copy-right by David Hendin)

Figure 12 – Obverse of a bronze coin of Philipthe tetrarch, Hendin 1232. Diameter 11 mms.(Image copyright by David Hendin)

Figure 13 – Obverse of a bronze coin ofAgrippa I, Hendin 1246. Diameter 21 mms.(Collection of St John’s Cathedral, Brisbane)

PERTH STAMP & COIN SHOW 2013

THE Perth Stamp & Coin Show 2013will be held on Saturday 17th and

Sunday 18th August. Venue is the Univer-sity of WA Guild Centre, Hackett Drive,Crawley, Perth. Show hours are 10a.m. to4 p.m on the Saturday and 10 a.m. to3 p.m. on the SundayHere’s an opportunity to inspect the

wares of 22 local and interstate dealers.

Admission is free and there’s plenty ofparking and refreshment facilities.Bring along your stamps, coins and

banknotes for free valuations. LimitedAPTA Miniature Sheet overprints will beon sale and there’s $800 worth of prizesto be given away. To find out more: go towww.perthstampandcoinshow.com

� � �