JUDAEA, Tiberias. Hadrian, AD 117-138. Æ 24

JUDAEA, Tiberias. Hadrian, AD 117-138. Æ 24 (24 mm, 10.65 g, 1 h). Civic Year 101 = AD 118/9.

Obv. ΑΥΤ ΤΡΑ ΑΔΡΙANΩ ΚΑΙC CΕΒ – Laureate and cuirassed bust of Hadrian right.

Rev. ΤΙΒΕΡ ΚΛΑΥΔ – Tetrastyle temple façade with pellet in pediment; within, Zeus seated left on throne, holding patera in right hand and sceptre in left; in exergue ΕΤ ΑΡ (date 101).

References. RPC III 3932; Kindler 7; Rosenberger 12. Rich olive-green patina with reddish highlights, sharply struck portrait and clear date; faint roughness on reverse field, otherwise Very Fine / well-centred and scarce.

Tiberias—founded by Herod Antipas in AD 18/19 and named for Tiberius—used its own civic era, here shown as Year 101. Early in Hadrian’s reign the Galilean city celebrated imperial patronage by pairing the emperor’s military bust with a grand temple scene honouring Zeus (assimilated locally with the Roman Jupiter). The pellet in the pediment is a trademark of Tiberias’ second-century bronzes, while the seated god within a tetrastyle shrine echoes contemporary architecture that Hadrian encouraged throughout the eastern provinces. Such coins underscored loyalty to Rome, proclaimed urban sophistication, and helped finance municipal works at a moment when Galilee was still recovering from the upheavals of the First Jewish Revolt half a century earlier.