Small bronze - Eleazar the priest Year One

Struck during the opening year of the Bar Kokhba revolt, this issue bears the name of Eleazar the priest — almost certainly the same Eleazar of Modiin described in rabbinic sources as the spiritual authority behind the uprising, though his precise role remains contested among scholars. The revolt, launched against Hadrian's refusal to permit Jewish rebuilding of the Temple and his plans to construct Aelia Capitolina on Jerusalem's ruins, produced a full autonomous coinage on a compressed wartime schedule. Nearly all Bar Kokhba bronzes were struck over existing Roman provincial coins, and the host flans frequently ghost through the new impressions.