Tiberias was founded by Herod Antipas around 20 AD on a site later discovered to contain a Jewish cemetery, rendering the city ritually impure and largely unpopulated by observant Jews for its first generation. The city's coins consistently avoided imagery offensive to Jewish sensibility — a politically calculated concession by a ruler who needed his subjects' cooperation even as he named his capital after the Roman emperor.
This bronze was struck under Claudius, whose reign saw Judaea revert to direct Roman provincial administration following the death of Agrippa I in 44 AD.
Tiberias was founded by Herod Antipas around 20 AD on a site later discovered to contain a Jewish cemetery, rendering the city ritually impure and largely unpopulated by observant Jews for its first generation. The city's coins consistently avoided imagery offensive to Jewish sensibility — a politically calculated concession by a ruler who needed his subjects' cooperation even as he named his capital after the Roman emperor.
This bronze was struck under Claudius, whose reign saw Judaea revert to direct Roman provincial administration following the death of Agrippa I in 44 AD.