The provocative question ἔξεστιν ϰῆνσoν Καíσαϱι δoῦναι(Mark 12: 14: D and some other authorities read for νσoν, epexegetically, πιµϕάλαιoν – we have to do with a poll-tax, not with indirect taxation) introduces what, maybe, was the first instance of the use of a coin, imaginatively, as a ‘visual aid’, in teaching. It added vividness, and a sense of drama, to the tale. Jesus calls for the appropriate coin φέϱετέ μoι δηνάϱιoν ἳνα ἴδω (Mark 12: 15; Matt. 22: 19 varies this – ἐπιδεíξατέ μoι τò νóμισμα τoῦ ϰήνσoυ.) It is immediately forthcoming. No one doubts that it is indeed ‘the money of the tribute’. The δηνάϱιoν is the kind of coin in which the tribute is calculated and in which, by implication, it is to be paid. We may note in passing that perhaps Jesus did not have such a coin about him. This is not stated. But it was perhaps so, for whatever reason. It would have been artistically désirable for the denouement that the coin should have been provided by the Pharisees and Herodians who have posed the original question and no doubt they are the ‘they’ of οἱ δέ ἤνµεγϰαν (Mark 12: 16; Matt. 22: 19 οἱ δὲ πϱoσήνεγϰαν αὐτῷ δηνάϱιoν).