Numismatic and History Discussion Forums > Biblical & Judean Coins Discussion Forum

Aristobulus II the coinless

(1/1)

Ecgþeow:
Aristobulus (Yehudah II) was apperently a strong leader, so why is it that he was the only Hasmonean since Simon to not mint coins? He is the only descendant of Hyrcanus I, who started minting Judaean coins, who didn't mint them.  Does anyone have any theories?

~Zach

Robert_Brenchley:
Salome Alexander didn't mint in her own name, though the overstruck coinage of Hyrcanus II was surely struck by her in her son's name, as it only makes sense as an issue produced in haste after Jannaeus' death. Salome, of course, was not High Priest, and while the title 'king' isn't always used or claimed, 'High Priest' is, so presumably this was the vital thing at the time. Aristobulus ruled for four turbulent years, while most of his family ruled for considerably longer, and all the evidence I've seen suggests that minting in Judea was intermittent, with bronze being produced as needed. It may be thet he just didn't need to produce any coin during that relatively short period, or maybe there was a shortage of metal, as there appears to have been at one stage under his father. Or, alternatively, the coins might be out there somewhere, and we either just haven't found them or we haven't attributed them correctly yet!

Hendin discusses one interesting possibility, that the overstruck coins of Hyrcanus II could in fact be coins of Jannaeus, restruck after his civil war with the Pharisees with the abbreviated form of his name, Yonatan rather than Yehonatan (which is used in reference to him from the Dead Sea Scrolls) in order to avoid using the letters YHO, which is also used as an abbreviation for the Divine Name. Such usage would have been offensive to the Pharisees. If this is correct, then neither of his sons minted coin as far as we know. However, given that Jannaeus is said to have crucified 800 of his political opponents, probably mostly Pharisees, at the end of the civil war, he's hardly likely to have made such a concession to their sensibilites. His widow, however, supported them, so it would make sense for the abbreviated form to appear on any coin she struck.

I think my 'best guess' would be that so much coin was struck under Aristobulus' predecessors that there was an ample supply, and his brief reign being so turbulent, he probably had other priorities.

Ecgþeow:

--- Quote from: Robert_Brenchley on August 25, 2005, 06:43:00 pm ---Hendin discusses one interesting possibility, that the overstruck coins of Hyrcanus II could in fact be coins of Jannaeus, restruck after his civil war with the Pharisees with the abbreviated form of his name, Yonatan rather than Yehonatan (which is used in reference to him from the Dead Sea Scrolls) in order to avoid using the letters YHO, which is also used as an abbreviation for the Divine Name.

--- End quote ---

Is there ever any reference to Alexander Jannaeus as Yonatan? 

also, I have a hard time seeing YHONTN as being offensive to the Pharisees.  why not YHOHNN, which contains the full name of God? and why was YHV used as an abreviation, when it is only one letter shorter? It doesn't seem like these would be the type of people to just drop a letter in God's name, a name they still used the ancient script for, even when writing in the modern Jewish script. 

~Zach

Robert_Brenchley:
I admit I'm unsure myself about the offensiveness of YHO, but it's a possibility; unfortunately I don't know where the idea came from, so it's a bit difficult to check it out at the moment. I don't find the idea of his making concessions to the Pharisees very convincing though. One of the Dead Sea Scrolls fragments (4Q448) refers to 'King Yonatan and all the congregation of your people who are in the four winds of heaven'. No other Hasmonean with a similar name held the title of king, so it has to refer to Jannaeus.

Navigation

[0] Message Index