Antioch and Jerusalem: The Seleucids and Maccabees in Coins by Jacobson, David M.

Hardback, 168 pages. 

This book recounts the heroic story of the Maccabees and explains how they successfully took on the might of the Seleucid realm, illustrated by the coins issued by the main protagonists. What was an epic struggle of an oppressed people to win their national and religious freedom has provided much inspiration through the ages and continues to strike a strong resonance in our own times. However, the historical drama, as recorded in 1 and 2 Maccabees, with its unfamiliar roll-call of major players and place names, has acquired a considerable mystique. The coins put faces to many of these seemingly obscure names and help bring those stirring events back to life.

 

David M. Jacobson is an Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at University College London, and current editor of Palestine Exploration Quarterly (PEQ), the oldest journal of Levantine Studies. He has published widely on the history, art, architecture and numismatics of ancient Judaea, including Below the Temple Mount in Jerusalem (with Shimon Gibson, 1996), The Hellenistic Paintings of Marisa (2007), Herod and Augustus (2009) andJudaea and Rome in Coins, 65 BCE - 135 CE (2012), the last two co-edited with Nikos Kokkinos.