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Zuz - Simeon bar Kosevah Year Two
| Issuer | Bar Kokhba Revolt |
|---|---|
| Year | 133-134 |
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| Composition | Silver |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | A tall palm tree with spreading fronds dominates the central field, flanked on either side by a lulav (palm branch) and an etrog (citron), symbols of Jewish religious observance and national identity. The Hebrew inscription שב לחרת ישראל (Year two of the freedom of Israel) encircles the design within a beaded border. The devices are struck in relief over a pre-existing Roman denarius, with traces of the host coin's undertype faintly discernible on the flan. The overall composition reflects the nationalistic and religious iconography deliberately chosen for the Bar Kokhba revolt coinage. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Struck during the second year of the Bar Kokhba revolt against Rome, this zuz belongs to a coinage produced almost entirely by overstruck Roman denarii — the rebels had no mint infrastructure, so captured Roman silver was the raw material. The choice was as much a political act as a practical one, erasing Roman imagery beneath Jewish symbols at a moment when Hadrian's ban on circumcision and plans for a Roman colony on Jerusalem's ruins had pushed Judea into open war.
Bar Kokhba himself — Simon ben Kosevah — administered the revolt with documented bureaucratic precision, as the Dead Sea cache of his actual letters confirms. Year Two issues are generally more available than Year Three, which reflects how the revolt's final collapse in 135 AD disrupted production entirely.