Bible Synapse
Coins of Porcius Festus
Coin · AD 58/59 · The early church
See it on the map and timeline
- Date
- AD 58/59 (the coins' striking (Nero's year 5))
- Found
- Struck at Jerusalem (coin type). A small bronze issued in Nero's name by the Roman governor of Judaea; examples are held in many collections.
- Now
- Harvard Art Museums (one example), Cambridge, Massachusetts (2008.2.32)
- Passages
- Acts 24:27 – Acts 26:32
What it is
Small bronze coins (prutot) struck at Jerusalem by the Roman governor of Judaea. One side gives Nero's name in Greek inside a wreath; the other shows a palm branch with the Greek for “of Caesar” and the date year 5 of Nero, that is AD 58/59. Like other governors' coins of Judaea, they name the emperor, not the governor.
How it connects to the Bible
Acts says that after two years “Porcius Festus” took over from Felix. Festus heard Paul at Caesarea, accepted his appeal to Caesar and brought him before King Agrippa II and Bernice (Acts 24:27–26:32). The standard catalogues of Judaean coins and museums such as Harvard's assign these coins to Festus, because their date falls at about the time he took office.
What scholars debate
Assigning them to Festus is the usual numismatic view, but it rests on the date alone: the coins do not name him, and the year he arrived is uncertain (most scholars place it between AD 58 and 60). The Oxford Roman Provincial Coinage record names only Nero.