World coins chat: Israel & Judea

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The land of Israel was mentioned in the Bible as an area in the southern Levant in what now mostly constitutes modern Israel. King Solomon, son of David, was the first to unite the lands into a single kingdom in the 10th century BC, but it soon broke apart into the Kingdom of Israel in the north and the Kingdom of Judea in the south. Before the Greeks came, Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians had conquered the territory. During the Greek period it was mostly part of the Seleucid Empire, which at its heights stretched from western Anatolia to present-day Iran.

The Romans conquered Judea in 63 BC and tried to integrate it as a vassal state into the Roman Empire. This eventually led to the Jewish-Roman Wars from 66 AD until 136 AD. The consequences were enormous: many Jews were executed and others fled into diaspora. The Romans destroyed the Jewish Temple on Mount Zion, a place which is still sacred for Jews and Muslims today.

Despite these events, there were always Jewish people living in Israel although their numbers fluctuated. The area was for some time Byzantine until the Arabs conquered it in the 7th century. The Arabs built the Al-Aqsa Mosque on Temple Mount in Jerusalem in 732, which became one of the most sacred placed in Islam ever since.

During the Crusades in the 11th century, Jerusalem was briefly conquered by the Crusaders. The Jews fought alongside the Arabs to defend their lands but the Crusaders massacred most of their opponents. King Saladin defeated the crusaders and invited the Jews to return to their lands. It is pretty amazing to realise that Jews and Arabs have also known harmonious times.

In the 13th century, Mamluk sultans from Egypt conquered Israel and in the early 16th century it became an Ottoman province known as Palestine or Southern Syria.

Since the Diaspora, Jews had aspired to one day return to "The Land of Israel" or "Zion". In 1896, Theodor Herzl published "Der Judenstaat" (the Jewish State) which was the main inspiration for modern Zionism. The first "Aliyas", immigration waves of Jews to Ottoman Palestine, took place around 1900. In WW1 the British conquered Palestine and the Balfour Declaration stated that the British intended a "Jewish home" within the Palestine Mandate.

The British ruled Palestine from 1918 to 1948. The Jewish population slowly gained more and more control of the land. The British allowed them to do so as the Jews were economically more successful than the Arabs. In the late 1930's, there was an Arab revolt which was suppressed by the British authorities.

After WW2 things changed rapidly. The USA emerged as the major global power and many influential German Jews had emigrated to America. Bolstered by their support, Jewish resistance groups started a revolt against British rule. The British prepared for independence and proposed a dual state for Jews and Arabs, but this plan sparked a civil war and the 1948 Israeli-Arab War which led to the founding of Israel.

Surrounded by so many foes, Israel remarkably survived in the decades to come, heavily supported by prosperous Jewish communities in the West, the USA in particular. In 1967 the Israeli Army brought a humiliating defeat to the Egyptians when Ariel Sharon's troops conquered the Sinai and crossed the Suez Canal. Israel allowed Egypt to take the Sinai back but had to defend itself from Syrian and Egyptian attacks during the Yom Kippur war in 1973, which again became an Arab defeat.

The Israelis secretly developed a nuclear facility which allowed them to become a nuclear power, a big game changer in the region. Egypt made peace with Israel in 1979. In the 1980's Israel invaded Lebanon to deal with Palestinian insurgents but started to receive more and more criticism from the western world, even though US support remained strong. The continuing struggles of Palestinians who aspire their own state is still not resolved today and continues to fuel hot debates (including on this forum).

Meanwhile, Israel has developed into an advanced economy with companies specialised in chemistry & pharma, and many aspects of engineering. It is also one of the few democracies in the region. Nevertheless, the Palestinian situation is dire and the region will remain unstable until this issue will be resolved

Currency
With independence, Israel inherited the Palestinian Pound and renamed it the Israeli Lira, divided in 1000 Prutot until 1960 and 100 Agorot thereafter. In 1967 there were 3 Lirot in a US Dollar, but the rate continued to fall. In 1980, the Shekel replaced the Lira at a rate of 10 to 1. The Shekel was a true Hebrew name for coins used in antiquity. The first Shekel suffered from a lot of inflation. In just 5 years it dropped from close to parity to around 1,000 per USD. In 1985 the New Shekel replaced the old at a rate of 1,000 to 1.

Thanks to a much more prudent monetary policy the New Shekel became a very stable currency. It has remained around 4/$ for many years now. The New Shekel is also the main currency used in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Israeli coins are easy to find, but the dating can be troublesome for most coin collectors. Search Wikipedia for "Hebrew Numerals" and you can solve the puzzle. Remember that the Jews are millennia ahead in their calendar. 2015 corresponds with Hebrew year 5775. There are 4 numismatic eras:

- 1948-1960: Prutot series
- 1960-1980: Agorot series
- 1980-1985: First Shekel
- 1985-now: New Shekel

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/judee-1.html

https://en.numista.com/catalogue/israel-1.html
I'm in the middle of moving house so not too much time to add WCC topics. I really did my best to write a balanced article so please don't flame it!
I don't have many Judea coins, but I am in the process of increasing my holding (albeit slowly).  I do have several Israeli coins from my childhood days which I will photograph and post one of these days  z) :

Ancient Greece, Judaea: Alexander Jannaeus (103-76 BCE) Æ Prutah (Hendin-1150)

Obv: Paleo-Hebrew inscription (Yehonatan the King) among the rays of an eight-pointed star, all within a diadem.
Rev: Greek inscription BAΣIΛEΩΣ AΛEΞAN∆POY (of King Alexander) around an inverted anchor.

Have hundreds of modern and past israeli coins, but i only have one judea coin, which I acquired in a swap, ( and is my oldest coin.)
I have a 1985 50 Sheqalim. It is a nice looking coin. That's the only coin from Israel I have.
These year IDs were f***ing boring, thanks Numista to add Hebrew characters in their files to ID these shitty numbers... Some ones are so close to other ones.

Anyway I have coins from all modern Israel eras:
-10 prutot 1949 & 1952, 50 prutot 1954
-1 agorah 1974 & 1976, 5 agorot 1973 & 1977, 10 agorot 1962 & 1975 & 1976 (including 2 mint variations of the 1976 coin which are unregistered till I wrote this reply, watch this French forum link for more informations), 25 agorot 1978, 1 lira 1973 & 1974 & 1975
-1 new agorah 1982, 10 new agorot 1981, 10 sheqalim 1982
-1 agorah 1986, 10 agorot 1986, 1 new sheqel 1986

Oh wait... Why didn't we count Palestine in the same topic? Israel currency is the only one inheriting the Palestinian Pound as there is no real Palestinian currency till now, and all territories are partly corresponding.
Administrateur du catalogue, référent de nombreuses nations antiques et de la Lorraine.
Catalogue administrator, numerous Antique nations and Lorraine referee.
I put Palestine separately for no obvious reasons, except that it is also the preceding currency of the Jordanian Dinar
Quote: jokinenI put Palestine separately for no obvious reasons, except that it is also the preceding currency of the Jordanian Dinar
Well, ok. Forgot it was a joint mandate.
Administrateur du catalogue, référent de nombreuses nations antiques et de la Lorraine.
Catalogue administrator, numerous Antique nations and Lorraine referee.
It feels good to own the second oldest Judean coin on Numista!
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces72629.html
Archaeology student and coin and medal collector
Check out my Instagram account @Australian_Coin_Info
https://instagram.com/australian_coin_info/
Hey, remember we have that Numisdoc for dates and calendars that is a blessing in getting all sorts of dates figured out. I use it all the time for Jewish, Thai, and Japanese coins.
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