Thank you for the interesting post David. I did not realize that the
Rome mint had produced a series of quadrantes celebrating
victory in the First Revolt. When 'Judaea Capta' is mentioned, as for many others, I think mostly of
denarii or
sestertii, although I knew of some other
denominations, it did not occur to me that quadrantes would also be included. As you say, it shows the administration clearly wanted
Romans of all classes to understand the importance of the event. The single
palm image is so stark makes me want to speculate further about the reasons for the issue showing it so prominently.
The the single
palm signifying Judea was used previously on the some of the
Hasmonean and
Herodian leptons and so it was only natural
Roman Procurators would also use the symbolic image on their own similarly low
denominations.
Under
Nero the Procurator
Porcius Festus had prutahs struck showing the single
palm which must have been a common coin in Judea at the time. As the revolt began shortly after he departed office, perhaps it was the intention of the
Roman government to produce a similar low
denomination with the same motif to reinforce the concept of
Roman authority continuing from the reign of
Nero to that of
Vespasian.
Also for those veterans now back in
Italy, who would have seen the leptons and prutahs of Judea, it might remind them of their own service to the empire.
Best regards,
Steve