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Donald T. Ariel, Jean-Philippe Fontanille, The Coins of Herod. A Modern Analysis and Die Classification Ancient Judaism and Early Christianity - 79), Brill, LeidenBoston 2012, pp. 203 + b/w 96 tab.; ISBN 978-90-04-20801-8; ISSN 1871-6636
Various aspects of Herod's minting have been the subject of analysis and interpretation since the mid- 19th century. The interest for them results from the hope of gleaning from the minting further information regarding Herod's political position towards Rome, discovering the contents and objectives of the propaganda efforts undertaken by him, and establishing how these actions were reflected in the coins minted by the Judean mler. The second important reason for scholars' interest in Herod's minting concerns its numismatic aspects: the production techniques, location of the mints in which Herod's coins were struck, chronology of the various issues, iconography etc. Although these are issues which have been analyzed by several generations of scholars, to date there has been no monographic presentation. Two eminent numismatists who have for years been studying Herod's coins have now made an attempt to fill that gap: Donald Ariel, head of the Coin Department of the Israel Antiquities Authority, and Jean-Philippe Fontanille, an independent researcher specializing in the study of dies of ancient coins. Their work together has led to publication of a book on Herod's coins. The two authors represent different methodologies of numismatic studies. This difference in research methods and method of analysis of numismatic material is visible in the book. Ariel is the author of as many as 11 of the 12 chapters addressing various historical and numismatic issues. Fontanille, on the other hand, writes just one chapter, devoted to the analysis of the dies and minting technologies of Herod's coins (Chapter 4: The Dies and Minting Technology, pp. 65-88), as well as all 96 plates illustrating the relations between the obverse and reverse dies of the various types of coins minted during the king's rule. This does not mean, however, that Fontanille 's contribution to the work is any smaller or less important. It would be no exaggeration to say that only thanks to the two scholars' joint efforts was it possible to recreate the chronology of the issue of Herod's coins in a way that nobody had done before.
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