Bible Synapse
Coins of Herod Antipas
Coin · AD 20/21 – 39/40 · Time of Jesus
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- AD 20/21 – 39/40 (the dated issues (years 24 to 43 of his rule))
- Found
- Struck at Tiberias, Galilee (a coin type known from many examples). Antipas' coins name him tetrarch and, until his last issue, carry the name of the mint city, Tiberias, in a wreath; the last issue, of AD 39/40, honours the emperor Gaius instead.
- Now
- Classical Numismatic Group (example shown, sold)
- Passages
- Luke 3:1, Matthew 14:1–2, Luke 13:31–32, Luke 23:6–12, John 6:23
What it is
Bronze coins of Herod Antipas, the son of Herod the Great who ruled Galilee as tetrarch. They carry no portrait. One side has a palm branch or a reed with the legend “of Herod the tetrarch” and the year of his rule; the other has the name of the city Tiberias inside a wreath.
How it connects to the Bible
This is the Herod of Jesus' ministry: Luke dates it to when “Herod being tetrarch of Galilee”, and the Gospels tell how he had John the Baptist beheaded and later questioned Jesus before the crucifixion; Jesus called him “that fox”. The mint city, Tiberias on the Sea of Galilee, is named in John 6.