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ABSTRACT: When Vespasian captured Jerusalem in 70 AD, he put a palm tree on some of his victory coins. Is this palm tree a symbol for victory or rather for the subdued Jews? This controversial question can be clearly answered by making an iconographical distinction between palm trees and palm branches. This article discusses especially numismatic, but also philological, literary, pictorial, and botanical evidence, to defend that only the branches and wreaths of palms were used as symbols for victory, whereas the entire palm tree stood for Phoenicia or Judaea. Keywords: Judaea - capta - Phoenix - palm - victory - Jewish war
(ProQuest: Appendix omitted.)
1 Introduction1
Vespasian's victory in the First Jewish War (66-74 AD), and especially the capture of Jerusalem in 70 AD by his son Titus, were an important source of popularity for this new Roman emperor, who lacked dynastic legitimation. After the troubles of the Year of the Four Emperors in 68-69 AD, Vespasian skillfully drew parallels to Augustus' overcoming of the civil war at Actium. History kindly offered him the luck that Actium had taken place exactly 100 years before his own victory and accession in 69 AD. Vespasian took the opportunity: As Augustus had done, he closed the gates of the temple ofJanus, showing hereby that peace reigned in the entire Empire. As Augustus had consecrated the ara pacis, Vespasian commissioned a forum with a templum pacis, where the spoils of the Jewish War were exhibited.2 While the closing of the Janus gates and the templum pacis are to be understood mainly in the context of the reestablished pax after the civil war, rather than the Jewish War, Vespasian also continued an Augustan tradition how to commemorate military victories: As Augustus had issued Aegypto capta coins in 28 BC and Armenia capta in 19/18 BC, Vespasian now issued the Judaea capta series.3 Moreover, he celebrated the capture of Jerusalem with a triumphal procession, and in the following years, three triumphal arches were commissioned, which all bear on the victory over Judaea: The first is the now lost Arcus ad Isis, which featured the same motives than the Judaea capta coins.4 The second is the now lost Arch of Titus in the Circus Maximus, whose inscription CIL VI...