Bacchius Ivdaevs

[eduardo]

One of the denarii of the Plautia family,  the A. Plautius  c 54 BC, has the turreted head of Cybele with the inscription PLAVTIVS  AED  CVR SC and the reverse shows a man kneeling holding a camel and presenting an olive branch with the inscription BACCHIVS IVDAEVS.  Stevenson (1889) mentioned that Bacchius was unknown to history and that since the attitude of Bachius is the same as that of Aretus in the coins of Aemilius Scaurus, it must be from the same time and related to the pacification of the area imposed by Cn  Pompey.  Aretus was granted peace after a payment of a number of talents.  Other authors coincide that Bacchius was unknown to history and repeat what Stevenson said "Gobernor of Arabia and by religion Jew",

At the site www.denarios.org/republica  from Spain you can read about  Bacchius "En el reverso se representa al rey de Arabia Bacchius a quien Plautius dictara las Leyes"  (In reverse king Bacchius of Arabia to whom A Plautius presented the laws).

Here I am presenting 1.-  a scan taken from Roman Silver Coins Vol 1 H,A,Seaby  1967 p.75 Drawing of denarius of A Plautius with Bacchius in the reverse.; and 2.- a Aemilius coin with king Aretas in reverse from  Denarios.Org.

Was Bacchius an unknown Jewish king?  Was he converted to Judaism?.  I would like to know more about this character or is he still "unknown to history"?

Thank you in advance.
Eduardo

[Ecgþeow]

I've never heard of Bacchius, but I can answer one of your questions:

Was Bacchius an unknown Jewish king?

no, he could not have been.  Josephus (and others, I am sure) gives an account of all the Hasmoneans, and does not mention Bacchius.  We are completely certain about the line of Jewish Kings.  Josephus says that from the very beginning of the Hasmoneans, Judaea was allied with Rome.  Judah the Maccabee initiated the alliance, which, slowly, became Roman domination over Judaea.

 

[Howard Cole]

Here is what Hendin says about it.

This coin is of the same reverse type as the previous coin's obverse (like the second coin you have posted that shows Aretas III) , with the exception of the inscription.  The "Bacchius the Jew" referred to on this coin is one of the enigmas of Jewish numismatics.  Narkiss said the coin represents Aristobulus II, commemorating his unsuccessful insurrection.  Kindler, however, believes that the supplication referred to is one Dionysius, ruler of Tripoli during this period.

Howard

[eduardo]

Thank you Zam and Howard for your quick responce.  Yes it made no much sence to me the existance of a Jewish king of that time not listed.    The explanation by most authors. King of Arabia of Jewish religion is not  too clear.   Was there an interest in converting foreigns into Judaism at the time?   Either.  Be it Aristobulus II or Dionysius of Tripoli, I will have to find out more about this two gentlemen.
Eduardo

[Ecgþeow]

If it was Aristobulus II, I can't see why they wouldn't use his name.  Aristobulus was already a Roman/Hellenistic version of his name.  His name in Hebrew was    (Yehudah).  Why would they further change his name from an already Romanized form?
as to conversions, I can't think of anything that would suggest conversions to Judaism, except for the time when Hyrcanus I forced the Idumaeans to convert.  Other than that, I can't see why there would be conversions.  Jews at this point were still an ethnicity.  All Jews originated in Judaea.  I may be wrong, but it doesn't seem like it would be very open to conversions.  A Roman or an Arab could change religion, but they would still be a Roman or an Arab, not a Jew.
So the mystery continues...

 

[curtislclay]

      Here is what Eckhel said about the type in 1795:
     "The reverse, however, commemorates an event which the historians pass over in silence, namely Bacchius Judaeus kneeling in supplication just like King Aretas on the coins of M. Aemilius Scaurus.  We cannot avoid concluding, then, that at the same time Pompey through his legate Scaurus compelled Aretas to sue for peace, he also dictated terms through A. Plautius to Bacchius, a dynast, it would appear, of Arabia, and a follower of the Jewish religion, a success that Plautius later recalled on the denarii he struck as aedile."
      As often elsewhere, Stevenson quoted above by Eduardo was merely repeating Eckhel's view, and often quoting Eckhel's exact words, in his Dictionary written in the early 1850s (he died in 1854), but not published until 1889.

[eduardo]

Thanks again Zam and thankyou Curtislclay for helping me straigten up this subjest.  At the end we have to go to Eckhel who wrote 210 years ago.  Almost a quarter of a milenium.  Nothing new has been said after him.  Praise to the fathers of numismatics.  Now I need to read Eckhel. Are there modern editions of his work. 
Eduardo

[curtislclay]

      Unfortunately Eckhel's wonderful work is accessible to only a small number of people today, for two reasons.
      (1)  Originally published 1792-8 in eight volumes, four on Greek and Greek Imperial coins, one on Roman Republican coins, and three on Roman Imperial and Byzantine coins, it was reprinted just once, in 1828.  So sets don't come up for sale very often , and are expensive; probably at least $1000 today.
      (2)  The work is written in Latin, and has never been translated into any modern language.  As mentioned, however, Stevenson in his dictionary often translates passages from Eckhel into English, giving modern amateurs some small access to Eckhel's great work.

[Robert_Brenchley]

By New Testament times the term 'Iudaios' was becoming ambiguous; it often does mean 'Judean', but not always. It's hard to see hao Bacchius could have been a Jewish king; it's already been said that we know a good deal about them, and both their Greek and their Hebrew names. Aconvert would be possible though. About the turn of the eras (I don't have the exact date) Izates, the ruler of Adiabene, and his mother Helena, were converted to Judaism, along with their family. This created a new Jewish dynasty within Parthian territory, and you can't rule out the possibility of some unrecorded parallel in the previous century. There were times when Jewish rules established semi-independent principalities of their ownwithin the Parthian empire, but this is doubtless going too far to the east.

[eduardo]

Well, It seems this is as far as we can go.  Thankyou Curtislclay and from what you say I guess I will not hae that book and will continue with Stevenson.  Thankyou Robert for clearing the poins.  I understand it has never been Jewish a policy.  Indeed in early Christianity that was a subject of discussion also.  I mean accepting non Jews as Christians.
Eduardo

[Robert_Brenchley]

Depends which particular Jews you're talking about! Before the destruction of the Temple there was an enormously wide spectrum. At one end, the author of the 'Damascus Covenant' rejected Jews who weren't in his particular group, and they weren't supposed to mix with them, beyond, I suppose, the necessary minimum. So he certainly wouldn't have had any truck with Gentiles. At the other end of the scale, the early Rabbis, and probably their Pharisee forerunners, would accept Gentiles as long as they kept a few basic commandments, which were believed to have been given to Noah, and through him, toall humanity. The Law of Moses wasn't required, as it was given specifically to Jews. A very similar ruling is found in Acts, so the Jerusalem church probably took a similar line. Paul quarrelled with them because he wanted to accept them as full members of the community, not as tolerated aliens. People like Izates and Helena seem to have undergone a full conversion, and become Jews, keeping the Mosaic Law in full. Only the extremists would have had a problem with that.

[eduardo]

Thanks Robert again for such an enlightning overview of the subject. That is one of the fantastic aspects of numismatics.  A coin opens the viewer to a world of information and knowledge. For years I had a weekly sunday column in the main paper of Lima in which under the title of "Numismatics" I used the coin, note or medalion to write history.  Finally the collumn was stoped to be replaced by one dedicated to  "Pets".
Eduardo