Zuz - Simeon bar Kosevah Year Three

Year Three of the Bar Kokhba Revolt was its final year. Roman forces under Julius Severus, recalled by Hadrian from Britain specifically to crush the uprising, systematically reduced Jewish strongholds through siege rather than open battle. The rebels, running short of everything, overstruck existing Roman provincial silver — the host coins are frequently visible beneath, and the Jewish imagery was hammered directly onto whatever circulating silver could be seized. Bethar fell in 135 AD, and Simon bar Kosevah died in the siege. Year Three coins are meaningfully scarcer than Year One and Year Two issues for exactly that reason.