In the year AD 66, while Nero was still reigning, a revolt broke up in Judaea instigated by the act of the procurator Gessius Florus to appropriate seventeen talents from Solomon’s Temple. Added discontent towards Roman administration for insulting attitude and profiteering became wrath and led into open confrontation. Late in that year initial Jewish successes had undermined the Roman rule in the broader area of Palestine. By that time there had been produced Jewish silver coins heralding the wish for independence, moreover inscribed in Paleo-Hebrew: “shekel of Israel”, “year one” / “holy Jerusalem”. The types which were selected are also characteristic: on the obverse an omer vessel (measure of dry capacity) for ritual practices and on the reverse a branch with three pomegranates, alluding probably to the decoration of the Temple and perhaps more specifically to the garb of the High Priest.
However, the coming of the Roman legatus Vespasian meant first the subjugation of Galilee and then the suppression of resistance concurrently with the outbreak of a civil war among rival Jewish factions. The dramatic events are mainly known through the noteworthy but contradictory testimony of the surrendered Josephus. The departure of Vespasian in mid-69 AD so that he would seize the throne did not change the picture. His son Titus was the one who drowned the rebellion in blood, after a relentless struggle in which atrocities were committed by both sides, especially by the attackers. Jerusalem yielded to the besiegers when opposition was crushed on 7 September 70 AD.
The shekels struck during that year of the 1st Jewish War bear the letter He (=5). This was a short emission preserved in few specimens, as the duration of minting extended over about 127 days only, from March 21 (beginning of the year) to August 4 (7 Ab) of 70 AD, when the Temple was destroyed. Judaea paid a heavy price in human losses, while for the survivors this was the start of the great Jewish diaspora.
Returning to Rome Titus held a triumph; in the spoils were included the Temple’s treasures, the golden seven-branched candelabrum (Menorah) and the Pentateuch (Torah).
The last bastions of resistance succumbed later, first Herodium and Machaerus and ultimately Masada, where the final act was played with the mass suicide of the Zealots who defended the fortress (spring of 74 AD).
