Bible Synapse
Coins of Herod the Great
Coin · c. 40–4 BC · Time of Jesus
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- c. 40–4 BC (Herod's coinage)
- Found
- Struck in Herod's kingdom (a coin type known from many examples). The coin shown belongs to Herod's series dated year 3, probably struck at Samaria before he took Jerusalem; it came to the Berlin coin cabinet in 1862.
- Now
- Münzkabinett, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (example shown), Berlin (18232684)
- Passages
- Matthew 2:1–3, Matthew 2:16–19, Luke 1:5
What it is
Bronze coins issued by Herod the Great, king of Judaea from 37 to 4 BC. His largest coins are dated “year 3” and show a helmet, a tripod and other objects with the Greek legend “of King Herod”; his commonest small coin has an anchor on one side and two horns of plenty on the other. Like the Hasmonean kings before him he generally avoided images of living beings, though one coin shows an eagle.
How it connects to the Bible
Herod is the king “in the days of” whom Matthew and Luke place the birth of Jesus, and Matthew tells of his alarm at news of a newborn king and the killing of the children of Bethlehem. These coins carry his name and royal title and were in daily use in his kingdom.