As it turns out, the coins not only weren't "Palestinian" as such, they weren't "Ancient" either. In fact, some of them weren't 'Coins', but rather 'banknotes'. Because the only money in known history to say "Palestine" was produced by the British Mandate, back when both Jews and Arabs were considered "Palestinians".
In Hebrew the coins said "Palestine (Land of Israel)".Palestinian Media Watch reports that the Palestinians are still looking for those ancient Palestinian coins.
A Judean Shekel coin from the year 66 CE, the first year of the Jewish rebellion against Rome, was sold for $1.1 million this past week at an auction in New York. The words in Hebrew "Shekel of Israel [Year] 1" are printed on the front of the coin, and "Jerusalem the holy" appears on the back. [New York Post, March 10, 2012]
The official Palestinian Authority daily in writing about the auction described the Hebrew coin from the Second Temple period as an "ancient Palestinian coin" and as being part of the "Palestinian cultural tradition."
left: "Shekel of Israel", golden cup from the vessels of the Templeright: "Jerusalem, the Holy", branch with three pomegranates
I'm sure that when the PA gets around to minting their own coins, they'll use these examples of ancient Palestinian tradition as their prototypes. Because nothing says "Palestinian" like Jews fighting for their homeland, rejecting Latin and Greek influence, and making their own Hebrew coins depicting images from the Jewish Temple.
Who knows, maybe the next step will be to adopt Hatikva as the Palestinian national anthem. After all, what other song really embodies the Palestinian age-old quest for freedom in their own homeland?
For more on the collection of "Ancient Palestinian Coins":
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Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד
The Hebrew terms for "heads" and "tails" on a coin are "etz" and "pali."
ReplyDeleteOne side of the old coins in use here was a tree and the other side was a map of Mandatory Palestine (=Eretz Israel).
So good topic really i like any post talking about Ancient Greece but i want to say thing to u Ancient Greece not that only ... you can see in Ancient Greece Oikos and Polis and more , you shall search in Google and Wikipedia about that .... thanks a gain ,,,
ReplyDeleteI love the Shekel of Israel! That coin is so sweet! I wish american coins looked like that. Don't get me wrong I love our coins but that design on silver just looks so dam good.
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