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495751. Sold For $475

JUDAEA, Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem). Marcus Aurelius, with Commodus. AD 161-180. Æ (26mm, 17.32 g, 11h). Struck AD 177-180. IMP ΛNTONI[NVS ET COM]ODVS ΛVGG, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Marcus Aurelius right, vis-à-vis laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust of Commodus left / [COL ΛEL] CΛP, draped bust of Serapis right, modius atop head. RPC Online 6418; Meshorer, Aelia 57; SNG ANS 607. VF, dark green patina with light earthen deposits.


In the early AD 130s, the Roman Emperor Hadrian proclaimed that Jerusalem would be refounded as a Roman veteran colony with the name Aelia Capitolina, and that a shrine to Jupiter would be built on the ruins of the Great Temple. This sparked the bloody three-year Bar Kokhba Revolt, during which the city remained under Roman control and served as a base of operations for the Sixth and Tenth Legions. Aelia Capitolina remained the city’s official name through the end of the Roman and Byzantine era, although Christians and Jews continued to call it Jerusalem. Jews were banned from entering the city except for one day a year, Tisha B’Av, when they were allowed to mourn at the Western Wall. The mint of Aelia Capitolina produced bronze coins until the brief reign of Hostilian (AD 251).