KING Agrippa II was the great grand-son of Herod the Great and the son

of Agrippa I, who ruled Judaea from 37to 44 AD. All three of them feature inthe Bible. In 59 AD Agrippa II and hissister Bernice visited Festus, the Romangovernor of Judaea, in his palace atCaesarea Maritima. (Figure 1) At thattime Saint Paul was a prisoner in thepalace and Agrippa told Festus that hewould like to hear what Paul had to say.Paul’s meeting with Agrippa and Berniceis described in the book of Acts: So onthe next day Agrippa and Bernice camewith great pomp, and they entered theaudience hall with the military tribunesand the prominent men of the city. ThenFestus gave the order and Paul wasbrought in. (Acts 25:23) This scene isdepicted in a painting by the Russianartist, Nikolai Bodarevsky. (Figure 2)When Agrippa I died in 44 AD, AgrippaII was only 16. The Roman authoritiesconsidered him too young to rule anyterritory and they appointed a Romangovernor of Judaea. However, when hisuncle, Herod, King of Chalcis, died in 48AD the emperor Claudius gave the king-dom to Agrippa II. Chalcis was a smallkingdom in a mountainous area west ofDamascus, and its population was notJewish. Herod, King of Chalcis, had issuedcoins in 43/4 AD (Figure 3), but they arevery rare today. Agrippa II issued no coinswhen he was king of Chalcis.In 53 AD Claudius transferred Agrippafrom Chalcis to a larger kingdom that

included the territories ruled by his great-uncle, Philip, who had died childless in34 AD. His tetrarchy included a largearea north of the Sea of Galilee. Thecapital was Caesarea Philippi, also knownas Paneas because there was a shrine tothe god Pan in the area. Its populationwas only partly Jewish, and all the coinsissued by Philip have a human head onthe obverse, which was against the Jew-

ish law of not making such images. (Fig-ure 4) Agrippa II was a devout Jew andnot once in his life did he issue a coin withhis image on it although his image didappear on coins issued by his father whenhe was 10, 13 and 15 years old. (Figure 5)When Claudius died in 54 AD the newemperor, Nero, enlarged Agrippa’s king-dom by adding the region just to the westof the Sea of Galilee, as well as the city

Sunset on the Sea of Galilee (Wikimedia).Overlay: Pan plays his pipes on a coin of Agrippa II (Courtesy Heritage Auctions).

Figure 1 – Remains of the palace at Caesarea Maritima where Paul was probably imprisoned.There was a large rectangular pool with a statue in the centre. Notice the mosaics in the fore-ground. (Wikimedia Commons: photo by Deror Avi)

of Julias (Livias) in Perea. (Figure 6 –map) Agrippa’s kingdom now includedtwo cities on the western shore of thelake, Tarichea and Tiberias. Bethsaida, atown at the northern end of the lake waspart of Philip’s tetrarchy, which Agrippahad inherited. Tarichea was also knownas Magdala and it was a significant townat this time. Tiberias was the capitalbuilt by Agrippa’s great-uncle, HerodAntipas. In view of all these changesthe study of Agrippa’s coinage has beena challenge for numismatists. DavidHendin in his Guide to Biblical Coins (5th

edition, 2010) wrote, “More questionsexist surrounding the coins of Agrippa

II than any other section of the ancientJudaean series; for example, we are notcertain of the mints, the dating eras, and,like all ancient Judaean coins we are noteven certain of the denominations.”The big event in the life of Agrippa II

was the Jewish War, when rebelliousJews fought against the Romans for theirfreedom. It started in 66 AD and endedin 70 AD when the Romans capturedJerusalem and destroyed its temple.Agrippa advocated submission to theRomans because he believed that theJews had no chance of winning. At thestart of the revolt he was living in Jeru-

salem, where he had the right to appointthe High Priest and was the custodianof his vestments. Jerusalem was not partof his kingdom but was a stronghold ofthe revolutionaries. Having been drivenout of Jerusalem by the rebels he movedto Sepphoris in Galilee, and it was in thatcity that a pro-Roman coin was minted in67/8 AD. (Figure 7) Agrippa never ruledSepphoris and his name does not appearon the coin but it has been assumed thathe was behind its production. A smaller coin with the same legends,but with a large SC on the reverse insteadof crossed cornucopias, was also mintedin Sepphoris at the same time. (Figure 8)The legends refer to the emperor, Nero,and to Vespasian, who was the generalsent by Nero to suppress the revolt. Nerocommitted suicide in 68 AD, and whenVespasian became the emperor in 69 heleft his son, Titus, in charge of the Romanforces in Judaea. On these coins thename, ‘city of peace’, is unprecedentedand obviously refers to Roman soldiersbeing received by the inhabitants “whowere for peace”, as recorded by the Jewishhistorian, Josephus, in his Jewish War(Book 3, Chapter 2, Section 30). Vespasianand his army were joined by Agrippa andhis army, and Vespasian made CaesareaMaritima his base.Although not dated, there is a series ofthree coins minted at Paneas probablyalso in 67/8 AD. (Figure 9) These coins

Figure 3 – Bronze coin of Herod, King ofChalcis, 41-48 AD. His bust appears on theobverse with the Greek legend, “King Herod,friend of Claudius.” The reverse inscriptionreads, “For Claudius Caesar Augustus, year 3.”(Heritage Auctions, 9thMarch 2012, Lot 20146)

Figure 2 – ‘Apostle Paul on Trial’ by Nikolai Bodarevsky, 1875. It is unlikely that Agrippa hada beard because no coins show his contemporaries with beards. (Wikimedia Commons)

Figure 4 – Bronze coin of Philip the tetrarchminted at Caesarea Philippi in 15 AD. It hasthe head of Tiberius with a star countermarkon the obverse and the façade of the Augus-teum on the reverse. (Collection of St John’sCathedral, Brisbane)

Figure 5 – Bronze coin of Agrippa I showinghis son on the obverse with the inscription,“Of Agrippa, son of the king.” The anchorprobably means the mint was Caesarea Mar-itima. LZ = year 7, when Agrippa II was 15.(Heritage Auctions, 5th September, 2012,Lot 20080)

have the bust of Nero on the obverse andan inscription on the reverse: “in thetime of King Agrippa, Neronias.” Agrippahad renamed Paneas, Neronias, in hon-our of Nero. In the New Testament thecity is known as Caesarea Philippi, andJesus and his disciples travelled there

from Bethsaida. The disciples, Peter andAndrew, came from Bethsaida and Jesushealed a blind man there. (Mark 8:22)When the Jewish Revolt began in 66AD, the Roman legate in Syria, CestiusGallus, led an army into Judaea tocrush it, but they were ambushed and

defeated by the rebels at Beth Horon,which is north-west of Jerusalem. About6,000 Roman soldiers were killed. Twelvehundred years before, Beth Horon hadbeen the site of Joshua’s victory over theAmorites when the sun stood still in thesky. (Joshua 10:13) When Vespasianarrived he concentrated on capturingrebel strongholds in the north. Aftertaking the city of Gadara in Perea hemarched to Jotapata in Galilee. It wasthe strongest of them all, but after along siege he took it. Josephus, a rebelgeneral who became a historian after thewar, changed sides and joined Vespasian.At this stage Agrippa invited Vespasianand his army into his kingdom. Vespasian“removed from that Caesarea which wasby the seaside, went to that which iscalled Caesarea Philippi; and there herefreshed his army for twenty days, andwas himself feasted by King Agrippa.”(Jos. War 3, 9, 444) On being informedthat Tiberias and Tarichea had rebelledVespasian made an expedition againstthem. The city of Gamala, east of the Seaof Galilee, had also rebelled and Ves-pasian besieged it. “Now at this time itwas that as king Agrippa was come nighthe walls, and was endeavouring to speakto those that were on the walls about asurrender, he was hit with a stone on hisright elbow by one of the slingers.” (Jos.

Figure 6 – Map drawn by the author showing places mentioned in the text and Agrippa’skingdom outlined in pink.

Figure 7 – Bronze coin of Sepphoris issued in 67/8 AD. On the obverse there is a caduceusbetween crossed cornucopias (signifying good fortune) with the Greek legend, “In the timeof Vespasian, City of Peace, Neronias-Sepphoris”. On the reverse the inscription reads, “Year14 of Nero Claudius Caesar.” (Heritage Auctions, 9th March 2012, Lot 20155)

Figure 8 – Bronze coin of Sepphoris issued in67/8 AD. It has the same words as Figure 7but with a large SC for Senatus Consulto,which is a Latin phrase meaning, ‘by decreeof the Senate.’ The SC was probably intendedto indicate that the city was protected by themight of the Roman Empire. (NumismaticaArs Classica NAC AG Auction 59, Lot 1352)

War 4, I, 14) Eventually the whole regionwas subdued and the Romans were ableto turn their attention to Jerusalem. In Jerusalem the rebels were mintingtheir own silver and bronze coins. (Fig-ures 10 and 11) After the destruction ofJerusalem in 70 AD some of the rebelsheld on at Masada until 73 AD, and mostof the coins that Agrippa minted duringhis life were issued after 73 AD. As helived for another 27 years there areseveral series of coins, all in honour ofVespasian and his sons Titus and Domit-ian. They are not particularly interesting.Agrippa’s image does not appear on them,and they usually have the figure of Vic-tory or Tyche, the goddess of fortune, on

the reverse. (Figure 12) None of thesecoins have any indication where theywere minted, except for a bronze medall-ion bearing the date, year 26 (74/5 AD),that has Pan playing his pipes on thereverse, which strongly suggests that itwas minted at Paneas. The same dateappears on four other coins in the series,which means that this series at leastmight have been minted at Paneas. Asimilar, though smaller coin (Figure 13),was minted in year 27, as well as anothermedallion with Vespasian on the obverse,and this suggests that other coins withyear 27 on them were also minted atPaneas.

Figure 9 – Bronze coin of Agrippa II minted at Paneas. 16 mms diameter. Nero’s head appearson the obverse with the legend, “Nero Caesar Augustus.” The inscription on the reverse reads,“in the time of King Agrippa, Neronias.” (Author’s Collection)

Figure 10 – Shekel of the First Jewish Revolt.On the obverse there is a ritual cup with theHebrew legend, “shekel of Israel” and “year 2”above the cup. On the reverse there is a sprigof pomegranates with the legend, “Jerusalemthe Holy.” (Classical Numismatic Group Auc-tion 97, lot 350)

Figure 11 – Bronze prutah of the First JewishRevolt. On the obverse there is an amphorawith the Hebrew legend, “year two”. On thereverse there is a vine leaf with the legend,“The freedom of Zion.” (Image courtesy ofHeracles Numismatics)

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Every year a team from St Francis’Theological College in Brisbane goes toBethsaida to join in excavating the site.The team is led by the Rev’d Dr GregJenks, who is the Academic Dean of thecollege. This year 26 coins were discov-ered but all are yet to be identified. Oneis a bronze coin of Agrippa II from theseries issued in 84/5 AD (Figure 14) andso far three coins of Agrippa II have beenfound at Bethsaida. Two of these coinswere discovered at a house abutting thecity wall and the other in a large housesouth of it. This may indicate a continuingprosperity and mean that Bethsaida, like

Sepphoris and many villages in Galilee,did not join the zealot rebels and did nottake part in the rebellion. By recordingall the find-sites of Agrippa’s coins itshould be possible to determine where hismints were situated. He probably useda number of mints, some at cities in hiskingdom, such as Paneas and Tiberias,and some outside, such as Caesarea Mari-tima and Rome. Jerusalem had beendestroyed in 70 AD and would not havebeen one of his mints. Agrippa never married and had nochildren, and was the last king of theJews. Rumours circulated that he was in

Figure 12 – Bronze coin with a bust of Domitian on the obverse and the legend, “Domitian Caesar”.19 mms diameter. On the reverse the goddess Victory stands with her foot on a helmet and writeson a shield. The reverse inscription reads, “year 26 (74/5 AD), King Agrippa.” (Author’s Collection)

Figure 13 – Bronze coin, 30 mms diameter.On the obverse there are busts of Titus (on theleft) and Domitian. On the reverse Pan walksto the left playing his pipes. There is a treetrunk to the right. The reverse legend reads,“year 27 (75/6 AD) of King Agrippa.” (Her-itage Auctions, 8th March 2012, Lot 20162)

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an incestuous relationship with Bernice,but this seems unlikely. Josephus washis rival, and perhaps it was he whoslandered him. Bernice was the mistressof Titus during the war, and in 75 AD

she and Agrippa sailed to Rome whereshe resumed her relationship with Titus,but Vespasian disapproved and they re-turned to Paneas. Fifteen years earlierPaul had also sailed to Rome but undervery different circumstances: he was aprisoner and when he arrived at Rome,“he was allowed to live by himself, with asoldier to guard him.” (Acts 28:16) WhenVespasian died in 79 AD and Titus be-came emperor, Agrippa and Bernice againsailed to Rome. (Figure 14) They werehoping that Bernice would become Titus’wife, but public opinion was against sucha marriage and he sent her away. Ac-cording to Suetonius, writing in about120 AD, parting was painful for themboth.

Agrippa died of natural causes at theage of 73. He had been correct in hisprediction of catastrophe, and his peopleshould have heeded his warning. Had theJews listened to his advice, Jerusalemwould not have been destroyed, therewould not have been exile, the Templewould still be functioning and the historyof Western civilization would certainlybe different.

AcknowledgmentsI would like to thank Professor RamiArav, the Director of Excavations for theBethsaida Excavations Project, for read-ing and commenting on this article. I haveincorporated his comments in the text.

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Figure 14 – Bronze coin of Agrippa II found at Bethsaida in 2014. It has a bust of Domitian on the obverse and a palm tree with two bunches of dates andKing Agrippa’s name in abbreviated Greek on the reverse. (© Bethsaida Excavations Project. Used with permission. Photographer: Hanan Shafir)

Figure 15 – Bronze coin of Agrippa II cele-brating his voyage to Rome with Bernice. Titusis on the obverse and the inscription on thereverse is “year 19 (78/9 AD) King Agrippa.”This beautiful galley would have made agood impression on arrival at Ostia, the portof Rome. (Heritage Auctions, 9th March 2012,Lot 20176)

THOSE of you into cats may have over-looked the Mint of Poland’s on-going

colourized series: Man’s Best Friends -Cats. The latest release in this series isnow out, celebrating the Javanese Cat.As happens far too often when it comesto naming animals, the Javanese catcomes neither from Java nor Indonesia.The beastie is a long-haired Oriental. Thename was dreamed up by Helen Smithin 1950 and has stuck.These cats have a long silky coat in avariety of colours. They are intelligentcats and vocalize, often for no apparentreason. They enjoy human contact andapparently become depressed if they failto receive regular attention.The Polish Mint’s cat coins are struckfor Niue Island. Each colourized silverdollar is struck on a 38.61 mm, 17.50 g.999 fine silver flan with the eyes of the

moggie picked out with a pair of crystalSwarovski Elements. The designer of the current coin isMałgorzata Rodek. Mintage is 2014.

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POLAND’S JAVANESE CAT

Image courtesy Mennica Polska