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                 Web Product ID: 445

                 Price: $565.00
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                 Denomination: Shekel
                 Grade: Good VF
                 Reference: Cf. BMC Phoenicia pg. 240




  Phoenicia, Tyre Year 28 (=99/8 BC). AR Shekel or Tetradrachm (14.41 gm). Laureate
  head of Melkart right / Eagle left on prow; club and HK before, DP behind. Good VF,
  light toning, reverse die somewhat worn. $565.



  "Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went unto the chief priests, and said
  unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenented
  him with thirty pieces of silver." (Matthew 26:11-14).

  The silver coinage of Tyre in shekels and half-shekels came to be so widely accepted
  in the Levant that religious authorities in Jerusalem declared the annual temple tax
  required of all jews (one-half shekel per person) must be paid in good Tyrian silver.
  Some historians conclude the payment rendered to Judas for betraying Jesus was
  probably made in shekels, the largest silver coins commonly available to the temple
  priests.

  Tyrian coins also played a role in the famous scene in which Jesus attacks the 'money
  changers' in the temple courtyard. Since jewish pilgrims had to use Tyrian silver to
  pay their tax, they exchanged their local currencies in the temple court as today one
  might use a bureau de change in a foreign country. Then, as now, money changers made
  a substantial profit off these exchanges, leading Jesus to accuse them of turning the
  temple into a "den of thieves."