The Coins of Aelia Capitolina
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Top of the Damascus Gate. (Detail of a photo in Wikimedia Commons by Laurice Haddad) N 2018 Donald Trump, the president of called Aelia Capitolina and no Jews lived (Jupiter), parts of which still stand. In Ithe United States of America, ordered there. From the reign of the Roman 130 AD he visited Jerusalem and it was that his country officially recognize Jeru- Em peror Hadrian (117-138 AD) to the from that time that the city was rebuilt salem as the capital of Israel. Following reign of Hostilian (251 AD) a number of as a Roman colony which Hadrian called the United States the Australian gov - coins were minted bearing the name Aelia Capitolina. His family name was ernment ordered that West Jerusalem Aelia Capitolina, and the coins reflect the Aelius, and Capitolina referred to the be recognized by Australia as the capi - Greco-Roman culture that existed in the gods worshiped on the Capitoline Hill tal of Israel. Not many Australians know city at that time. in Rome. Coins were struck to celebrate that for some centuries after the Second Jesus Christ was crucified in Jerusalem the foundation of Aelia Capitolina. ( Fig - Jewish Revolt (132-135 AD) the city was in 30 AD. The city that he knew was ures 1 and 2 ) Veterans of the Roman de stroyed by a Roman army in 70 AD army and other non-Jewish people were after the First Jewish Revolt (66-70 AD). settled there. Jews were not allowed The temple that King Herod built in to live in the city and circumcision was Jerusalem was demolished but the great forbidden. All of this resulted in the Sec - platform on which it stood remains to ond Jewish Revolt (132-135 AD) which this day. A Roman legion made its camp the Romans supressed with much blood- in the south-west part of the ruined city, shed on both sides. and the rest of the city was partially The city that Hadrian founded retained repopulated, but nothing really changed its basic configuration into modern times. until the Roman emperor Hadrian came It was laid out like a Roman military to power in 117 AD. camp with a main road through the Unlike his predecessors Hadrian middle from north to south. This road travelled extensively with the purpose was called the Cardo Maximus (‘Cardo’ of unifying his vast empire which is Latin for ‘hinge’, the idea being that stretched from Britain to Syria. Wherever other streets were hinged to it like doors) . he went he made changes. In Athens The main north-south street today still he built an enormous temple to Zeus roughly follows the Cardo Maximus al - Figure 1 – Bronze coin of Hadrian showing him (or a priest) ploughing the boundaries of Aelia Capitolina. This ceremony was tradition - ally performed by the founder of a Roman colony. The standard in the background was probably of the Tenth Legion Fretensis. The Figure 2 – Bronze coin of Hadrian showing the Capitoline triad (Jupiter between Minerva and Latin inscription COL AEL KA[PIT] COND Juno on the right) in a temple. Minerva wears a helmet. The Latin letters are COL on the left, means ‘Colony Aelia Capitolina Founded’. AEL on the right, and [KAP] in the exergue. though the actual road that Hadrian built is several metres 1975 archaeologists excavated a small section of the Cardo below the present street level. There was another Cardo (today Maximus in the Jewish Quarter which is in the south of the called Tariq al-Wad) in the valley further to the east. At the city. It is several metres below the present street level and northern end of the Cardo Maximus there was a column although this section was built in the 6 th century it probably with a statue of Hadrian on the top. (Figure 3 ) resembles what Hadrian had built further north. ( Figure 6 ) The Madaba Map is a mosaic map of the Holy Land which A modern artist has created an impression of the Cardo was in the floor of a church at Madaba, a town in Jordan east Max imus when it was the main street of Aelia Capitolina. of the Dead Sea. It includes a detailed map of Jerusalem, and (Figure 7 ) If you are fortunate in having a coin of Aelia Capi - although made in the 6 th century it shows the features of tolina in your collection you can imagine it being used to buy Hadrian’s Aelia Capitolina. ( Figures 4 and 5 ) It shows and sell the goods in that busy street. columns lining the Cardo Maximus and the other Cardo. In The streets of the city that Jesus walked on in the early 1st century are much further down than the present street Figure 3 – Drawing of the Roman gate at the northern end of the Cardo Maximus in the 2 nd century. Note the column with Hadrian’s statue on the top and the colonnaded streets. (Wikimedia Commons) Figure 6 – The Cardo Maximus unearthed. The stone arches were the entrances to shops. (Wikimedia Commons) Figure 4 – Jerusalem in the Madaba Map. (Wikimedia Commons) Figure 7 – Artist’s impression of the Cardo Maximus. (Wikimedia Commons) Figure 5 – Diagram of the Madaba Map with the Temple Platform added. The street east of the Cardo Maximus is today called Tariq al-Wad. The gate at the left (the north end) is today called the Damascus Gate and it led into a square with Hadrian’s column in it. The building east of the square is the palace of Empress Eudocia. The dome at the bottom covers the Holy Sepulchre. The church of the Holy Sepulchre was destroyed by the Figure 8 – Photo of the Damascus Gate taken in about 1900. caliph al-Hakim in 1009 and not rebuilt until 1048. ( Drawing by the author). (Wikimedia Commons) level. To get an idea of how far down shows the area as it is today with all the temple to Jupiter be built at the site of they are, one can compare photos of the accumulated dirt and rubble removed. Herod’s temple, and the coin in Figure Damascus Gate, which is the northern Figure 10 shows an entrance to the 2 shows Jupiter with Juno and Minerva entrance to Jerusalem. Figure 8 is a an cient Roman city. in a temple. Dio Cassius, a historian writ - photo taken in about 1900. Figure 9 Hadrian probably intended that a ing in Rome in the early 3 rd century, said Figure 9 – The Damascus Gate today. (Wikimedia Commons) Figure 11 – Bronze coin of Hadrian showing a boar with COL above and AEL below. It is 13 mms in diameter. Figure 12 – Bronze coin of Hadrian with Anton - inus Pius on the reverse. The reverse inscription igure 10 – A gate of the Roman city beside the Damascus Gate. is IMPTAEL.CAES ANTONINUS.CAK. The last Note the bases of the columns. (Wikimedia Commons) 3 letters stand for ‘Colonia Aelia Capitolina’. that Hadrian built a temple on the site, Aelia on the Western Hill. A temple to historians have assumed that one was of but when a Christian man, known as the Aphrodite was also built beside the west - Hadrian and the other of his successor, Bordeaux Pilgrim, visited the city in ern forum on the site of the Golgotha Antoninus Pius (138-161 AD). Why there 333 AD he saw no such building on hill.” was no temple to Jupiter on the Temple the Temple Mount. According to Karen The Bordeaux Pilgrim’s account still Mount is unknown, but there is histor - Armstrong, who wrote A History of exists and in it he says that there were ical evidence that a temple to Aphrodite Jerusalem , published in 1995, “The two statues of Hadrian on the Temple (Venus) stood on the hill of Golgotha Temple of Jupiter could have been built Mount. As it seems unlikely that the where Jesus was crucified. Constantine beside the chief commercial forum of two statues were of Hadrian modern (306-337 AD), the first Christian emperor, Figure 13 – Bronze coin of Hadrian with Sabina on the reverse. had the temple of Aphrodite demolished It was a symbol of the Tenth Legion his heir. Sabina also appears on one of and nearby the tomb (sepulchre) where which camped in the city but it would Hadrian’s coins. ( Figure 13 ) Hadrian Jesus’ body was laid was unearthed. have been insulting to the Jews who was gay and spent little time with his Constantine had the Church of the Holy considered pigs to be unclean animals. wife. Sepulchre built over the site, and this Antoninus Pius issued a similar coin. Busts of the emperor or his wife appear domed church is shown in the Madaba According to the 4 th century historian, on the obverse of all the coins of Aelia Map. Constantine’s mother, Helena, Eusebius, there was a statue of a boar Capitolina. Hadrian is always shown was said to have discovered at the site in the gate leading to Bethlehem in the with a beard, although it is not obvious the wooden cross on which Jesus was south. On the reverse of another coin on some of the coins. He was the first crucified. there is a bust of Antoninus Pius who is emperor to have a beard, which covered Hadrian issued bronze coins with nine named as Caesar. ( Figure 12 ) Hadrian unsightly marks probably the result of different types on the reverse. On one of and his wife Sabina had no children and acne as a youth. Previously beards had these coins there is a boar.