Obverse: Portrait of the Phoenician God of the
Sea Melkart
Reverse: Eagle Facing Left
Then one of the 12, called Judas Iscariot, went
unto the chief priests, and said unto them, 'What
will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?'
And they covenanted with him for 30 pieces of
silver.
- Matthew 26:14-15
Silver tetradrachms of Tyre, commonly called
shekels, were the only currency accepted at the
Jerusalem Temple and are the most likely
coinage with which Judas was paid for the
betrayal of Christ. They were issued from 126
B.C. to the time of the First Jewish War in 69-70
A.D. on a very consistent, yearly basis.
Considering that the world was quickly falling to
Roman invaders, this fact is even more
impressive. Yet the reasons are evident: the
Jewish people had to pay an annual tax to the
Jerusalem Temple that was only payable in the
money of Tyre. Shekels from Tyre were widely
available in the region and were well known for
their good silver content and accurate weight.
Such a coin as this is likely to have been one
among the thirty silver shekels handed over to
Judas to induce his betrayal of Jesus.
How many hands have touched a coin in your
pocket or your purse? What eras and lands have
the coin traversed on its journey into our
possession? As we reach into our pockets to pull
out some change, we rarely hesitate to think of
who touched the coin before us, or where the
coin will venture to after us. More than money,
coins are a symbol of the state that struck them,
of a specific time and place, whether
contemporary currencies or artifacts of a long
forgotten empire. This stunning hand-struck
coin reveals an expertise of craftsmanship and
intricate sculptural details that are often lacking
in contemporary machine-made currencies. In
our hands, this coin transports us to another era
as the past comes alive. Feeling the silver
against our skin, we become overwhelmed by the
temptations of wealth and riches Judas
succumbed to. Suddenly the stories of the Bible
become alive and their lesson gain a new
relevance to our modern lives
In antiquity, the Phoenician port of Tyre was
famous for its wealth and opulence. With trade
routes throughout the Mediterranean, Tyre
imported the finest luxury goods for the pleasure
of its citizens. Its coinage reflects the city's
confidence and power. It displays the head of the
god Melkarth (known to the Greeks as Herakles)
on one side and the imperial eagle of Zeus on
the other. These so-called Tyrian shekels were
most probably the coins paid to Judas as the
famous thirty pieces of silver.
