October 23rd
2018.
Monday 5th November.
·
Coins and Medals in the Royal Collection By Jeremy Cheek.
Monday 4th December.
Monday 8th January.
Meetings are held
at the Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, commencing at 7.00 p.m.
Notices
·
The
Xmas dinner is booked for 18.45 on Sat 15 December 2018 at The Cunning
Man. The cost will be £25 per person. Please let us know if
you want to come by phone, e-mail or at the very latest, at the November
meeting. We will also need your menu choices, please bring them along to
the November meeting.
·
Please continue thinking about Short Talks for
January, and Auction lots for March!
October Meeting
At the October meeting we
welcomed Tim Everson who gave a talk entitled ‘Coins of the Holy land in the
time of Jesus’. The region in question is what we now know as Israel, Syria,
Lebanon etc and the time span covered in the talk was roughly 100BC to 100 AD.
Tim’s talk was profusely
illustrated with coins of the Leaders, Kings and High Priest’s of the time.
Their names are too complex to repeat in this resume, but did include such
notables such as Herod and Pontius Pilate.
The background to the story begins with Alexander the
Great who founded many cities to control commerce
& trade. After his death his vast empire was divided amongst his generals.
General Seleucus took control of the Holy Land and
founded the Seleucid dynasty in Judea. However, in time the internal squabbles
weakened the state and thus allowed various parts to become in more
independent. In this turmoil gradually the Jewish priests and leaders gained
more power and the right to make coins. Tim told us about the Hasmonean state, the succession of Priests/ Kings and their
related stories. We were shown examples of their coins most of which contained
Jewish symbols. Throughout this period the dominant power lay with Rome and the
Holy Land leaders were subjected to scrutiny of the Roman Emperor. In fact many
coins actually refer to the Roman emperor rather than the Holy land leader. The
Hasmonean state ended with the brutality of Herod who
murdered not only Jews (massacre of the innocents) but his wife & sons.
Following the Jewish revolt in AD 66 the regions were
controlled by Rome with numerous Procurators (Prefects). Tim again went through
the various characters and their stories, illustrated with examples of their
coins. Perhaps the most well known characters of this time were Pontius Pilate
and the story of the disciple Paul.
In the next part of the talk
Tim spoke about coins in the gospels, such as the Widows Mite, the Tribute
penny and the Tyrian Shekel. Each year the Jews were
required to pay a temple tax of half a Tyrain shekel,
and only the good silver Tyrain coin was acceptable
because the local currency comprising Syrian Tetra drachms were considered poor
silver. Tim also spoke about, and illustrated, some contemporary Roman coins
one would have expected to circulate in the region given the overseeing power
of Rome. Surprisingly they are rarely excavated in the Holy land.
The numismatics of the Holy
Land is a rather complex subject and our thanks go to Tim for delivering a most
enlightening and interesting talk
Subscriptions
Be reminded that
subscriptions are now due. It would be most appreciated if members yet to renew
their subscription would please do so at the next meeting. Please see our treasurer
Peter. For anyone who does not pay their subs, this issue of the newsletter
will be the last they receive.
Future
Events.
Past Events
Ten years ago
Graham Dyer talked on "Repent at Leisure: The Adoption of 500 Silver in
1920"
Twenty years ago
was the Club Auction, including the Berkshire Token Collection.
Thirty years ago
Tony Holmes gave a talk on "The Greek Empire, Subsequent to
Alexander"
Forty years ago Mr.
A. Burnett talked on "The Origin and Development of Britannia on
Coins"
Club
Secretary.