A Representation of the Inauguration Ceremony of the Restored Temple? A (Tentative) Reinterpretation of the Bar Kokhba Tetradrachm

Abstract The coinage of Bar Kosiba (Bar Kokhba), the leader of the Second Jewish Revolt (132–135/6 CE), has long been acknowledged as a source of data for understanding the ideology and goals of the rebel regime he headed. In particular, the imagery and legends on Bar Kosiba’s tetradrachms have been the subject of many interpretations and controversies. This article proposes that the facade of the temple on the obverse of Bar Kosiba’s tetradrachms and the four species on its reverse side are complementary symbols, joined together to represent the future inauguration ceremony of the restored temple. Furthermore, this imagery on the tetradrachms may have been intended to respond to the coins issued to commemorate the founding of the colony of Aelia Capitolina on the site of Jerusalem.


 Introduction
The Second Jewish Revolt against Rome (132-135/6 CE) led to the emergence of a short-lived independent Jewish state in Judea headed by Shimon Bar Kosiba (Bar Kokhba). 1 The rebel government established a functional administration in the territories under its control, and two of the duties it took charge of were coinage and weights and the leasing of state land.Remarkably, minting authorities managed to issue a large quantity of silver and bronze coins, struck in various denominations with a great variety of types and legends, 2 by overstriking coins that were already in circulation before the revolt.Because of the paucity of literary sources for the Second Revolt, evidence from coinage has proved invaluable in understanding the ideology and goals of Bar Kosiba's regime.In this respect, the iconography and legends on Bar Kosiba's silver tetradrachm, which was the highest denomination of coins produced by the rebels, have been a topic of special interest in current research as well as a subject of much controversy.
The first part of this article describes the motifs and inscriptions on Bar Kosiba's tetradrachms and their variations over the years and presents the main hypotheses that have been advanced to interpret them.In the second part of this article, I propose that the combination of the temple facade on the obverse of the tetradrachms with the four species used during the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot) on the reverse was intended to represent and proclaim the future inauguration ceremony of the restored temple.This interpretation may also explain some of the other symbols embossed on the coin.To conclude the article, I suggest that Bar Kosiba's tetradrachms not only reflected the main goal of the rebel authorities (the desire to reconstruct the temple), but it may also have been a response to the coins struck by Hadrian in celebration of the inauguration of Aelia Capitolina on the ruins of Jerusalem.
 Description of the Tetradrachms Bar Kosiba's administration issued three denominations of silver coins: the sela (tetradrachm), the shekel (didrachm; equivalent to half a sela), and the zuz (drachma or Roman denarius; equivalent to one quarter of a sela).The tetradrachms, which were struck during the four-year uprising, exhibit a single type for each side, with variations over time. 3On the obverse of the tetradrachms from the first year is depicted the facade of a tetrastyle building adorned with fluted columns that have bases and capitals, upon which rests an entablature made of either two or three horizontal strips. 4This edifice, which stands on a thin base and has a flat roof, has been almost unanimously identified as a representation of the temple of Jerusalem. 5uch of the discussion focuses on whether it is a realistic image of the sanctuary 6 or a schematic representation of it. 7This issue is part of a more general debate about the extent to which monuments on ancient coins reflect their models and whether or not they should be used to reconstruct ancient buildings. 83 Leo Mildenberg, The Coinage of the Bar Kokhba War (Aarau: Sauerländer, 1984) 32. 4 See, e.g., Ya'akov Meshorer, Ancient Jewish Coinage (2 vols.;New York: Amphora, 1982) 2:plate 20:1-1c. 5Alternatively, the structure on the obverse of the tetradrachm has been identified as a synagogue (cf.Adolf Reifenberg, Ancient Jewish Coins [3rd ed.; Jerusalem: Rubin Mass, 1963] 60 n.163), or as the tabernacle (George F. Hill, Catalogue of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Palestine [Galilee, Samaria, and Judaea] [London: Order of the Trustees, 1914] 284).According to Aryeh Kindler, it is not a representation of the temple facade, but of the holy of holies (Aryeh Kindler, "The Coins of Bar Kokhba's War," in The Bar Kokhba Revolt [ed.Aharon Oppenheimer; Jerusalem: The Zalman Shazar.Center, 1980] 159-77, esp.162 [in Hebrew]).
6 Alice Meshuam has stated in this respect that "architecture on coins always represents an actual building" (Alice Meshuam, Coins and Temple: A Study of the Architectural Representation on Ancient Jewish Coins [Leeds University Oriental Society; Leiden: Brill, 1966] 2).For Michael Avi-Yonah, the facade on Bar Kosiba's tetradrachm is a representation of the Jerusalem temple as remodeled by Herod (Michael Avi-Yonah, "The Facade of Herod's Temple: An Attempted Reconstruction," in Religions in Antiquity: Essays in Memory of Erwin Ramsdell Goodenough [ed.Jacob Neusner; Leiden: Brill, 1968] 326-35, esp.328).In the same vein, David Hendin more recently noted that "the temple was destroyed only around 60 years earlier, so stories and perhaps drawings of it were fresh" (David Hendin, "Current Viewpoints on Ancient Jewish Coinage: A Bibliographic Essay," CurBR 11 [2013] 246-301, esp.289). 7See, e.g., Meshorer, Ancient Jewish Coinage, 2:140; idem, Treasury, 144.For David M. Jacobson, the facade on Bar Kosiba's tetradrachm is a schematic representation of the Jerusalem temple based on a free rendition of a sanctuary appearing on a denarius of Emperor Domitian (David M. Jacobson, "The Temple on the Bar-Kokhba Tetradrachms," Numismatic Circular 116 [2008] 6-8).
In this respect, it should be emphasized that temple facades are not uncommon on Roman coins; on this subject, see Stefan Ritter, "Buildings on Roman Coins: Identification Problems," Jahrbuch für Numismatik und Geldgeschichte 67 (2017) 101- 43. 8 The idea that buildings on ancient coins are accurate depictions of actual monuments has long been widely accepted (see, e.g., Meshuam, Coins and Temple, 2).However, a shift in the way this On the center of the temple's facade, between the inner pillars, is inserted a square design made up of dots, with two dots in the middle and a semicircular top; the whole structure appears to stand on two short legs.This item has been variously interpreted as the double door to the building itself, 9 the ark of the covenant (seen from one of the narrow sides), 10 a Torah shrine with the scrolls of the Law within it, 11 or the shewbread table. 12The reverse side of the tetradrachms always shows a representation of the four species used during the Feast of Tabernacles; it depicts a centrally placed lulav consisting of three bundled branches (date palm, willow, issue was approached occurred in the 1990s with scholars such as Andrew Burnett, who maintains that the representations are interpretations of the engravers rather than completely precise representations of buildings (Andrew Burnett, "Buildings and Monuments on Roman Coins," in Roman Coins and Public Life under the Empire: E. Togo Salmon Papers II [ed.George M. Paul and Michael Ierardi; Ann Arbor: Michigan University Press: 1999] 137-64; see also Ritter, "Buildings," 101-2).According to Ritter, "It is now widely agreed that architectural representations on coins reflect the appearance of their respective prototypes only in a very general way" (Ritter, "Buildings," 137).See also Stefan Krmnicek and Nathan T. Elkins, "Dinosaurs, Cocks, and Coins: An Introduction to 'Art in the Round,' " in "Art in the Round": New Approaches to Ancient Coin Iconography (ed.Nathan T. Elkins and Stefan Krmnicek; Rahden: Marie Leidorf, 2014) 7-22, esp.9-10. 9Eugen Merzbacher has depicted the figure as follows: "Viersaulige Tempelfaçade, in der Mitte eine verschlossene Pforte" ("Untersuchungen über althebräische Münzen," Zeitschrift für Numismatik 4 [1877] 350-65, esp.353).This interpretation, though, has been seriously questioned, especially since the item in the center of the facade has feet, which does not fit the depiction of doors; see, e.g., Meshuam, Coin and Temple, 7; Mildenberg, Coinage of the Bar Kokhba War, 33.
10 One of the main arguments in support of this theory is the resemblance between the item on Bar Kosiba's tetradrachms and later recognizable representations of the ark of the covenant on the painted frescoes of the Dura-Europos synagogue (3rd cent.CE).According to this interpretation, the two dots in the middle of the item are rings or carrying poles.See ).Jacobson has seriously questioned this proposal on the grounds that the shewbread table was not an actual shrine: "by contrast, the feature shown in the same position in images of Pagan temples on coins is not an offering but an object of devotion, usually a cult statue."Furthermore, Jacobson notes that the shewbread table possessed long legs and a flat top and that "it certainly did not terminate in a semicircular profile, according to the depiction on a coin of Mattathias Antigonus . . .and in the relief showing the great seven branched candlestick on the arch of Titus in Rome" ("Temple," 8).and myrtle) and a small etrog (a citrus fruit) to the left of the lulav. 13This design remains unchanged on the tetradrachms issued in the following years. 14The legends on the tetradrachms issued in the first year of the revolt are in Paleo-Hebrew and read ‫ירושלם‬ (Jerusalem) 15 on the obverse and ‫ישראל‬ ‫לגאלת‬ ‫אחת‬ ‫שנת‬ (Year One of the Redemption of Israel) on the reverse.
In the second year of the revolt, changes were made to the obverse of the tetradrachms.The temple is now depicted as standing on a structure made of two horizontal parallel lines, between which is inserted a row of short vertical lines. 16his structure has been sometimes described as the soreg (the fence that surrounded the inner sacred courtyards), 17 a portico, 18 or a staircase. 19Likewise, above the temple appears a four-pointed design (a plus sign), 20 that was later changed to a six-pointed 21 or an eight-pointed figure, 22 and which has been described either as a star or a rosette. 23At some point during the second year, the legend "Jerusalem" was replaced by the name "Shimon" ‫.)שמעון(‬ 24 Likewise, a new inscription was embossed on the reverse, reading in an abbreviated form, "Year II of the Freedom of Israel" ‫ישראל(‬ ‫לחר‬ ‫ב‬ ‫.)ש‬ The star-like design continues to appear on the obverse of most of the tetradrachms from the third year (fig. 1, below); however, it is absent on some of the dies from this year, where it is replaced by a wavy line made up of half circles topping the roof of the temple. 25This linear design has been interpreted as a part of the temple entablature, 26 or as the golden vine hung above the entrance of the sanctuary. 27In the third year, the legend on the obverse remains "Shimon," while the inscription placed on the reverse simply says, "To the Freedom of Jerusalem" ‫ירושלם(‬ ‫,)לחרות‬ with no date. 28The Facade of the Sanctuary and the Lulav as Complementary Symbols of the Inauguration Ceremony of the Restored Temple It is therefore obvious that the most characteristic and constant feature of the imagery on Bar Kosiba's tetradrachms is the combination of a representation of the Jerusalem temple facade with the four species 29 from the Feast of Tabernacles. 30As shall be 26 See, e.g., Mildenberg, Coinage of the Bar Kokhba War, 44. 27Josephus, J.W. 5.207-210 (LCL 210: 262-64).See, e.g., Joseph Patrich, "The Golden Vine, the Sanctuary Portal and Its Depiction on the Bar-Kokhba Coins," JJA 19/20 (1993-94) 56-61.
28 A number of scholars have drawn attention to changes in the legends found on Bar Kosiba's tetradrachms.According to Meshorer, the date was intentionally omitted from the last series of Bar Kosiba coins because "counting was considered a bad omen" (Ancient Jewish Coinage, 2:154).Likewise, in Mershorer's opinion, the inscription ‫ירושלם"‬ (Jerusalem)" on the tetradrachms was replaced by the leader's name ‫שמעון"‬ (Shimon)," either because Bar Kosiba was aware that the conquest of Jerusalem would not occur soon or "because of his inflated ego" (Treasury, 158).Mildenberg has interpreted this last change differently: he believes Bar Kosiba sought to make his personal name and the city name "interchangeable proclamations of the rebel states" (Coinage of the Bar Kokhba War, 31). 29It should be noted that the "four species" motif as such was not an innovation of Bar Kosiba's minters.Variations of this theme appear on all three denominations of the bronze coins from the fourth year of the Jewish War (69-70 CE).On the reverse of the largest of these coins is displayed an etrog (citrus) flanked on either side by a lulav (date palm, willow, and myrtle tied in a bundle), together with the inscription ‫חצי‬ ‫ארבע‬ ‫שנת‬ (Year Four Half).On the obverse is a seven-branched palm tree between two baskets of fruit (most likely dates), together with the inscription ‫ציון‬ ‫לגאלת‬ (To the Redemption of Zion) (see, e.g., Meshorer, Ancient Jewish Coinage, 2:plate 19:27-28).A smaller coin of this type has on its reverse a pair of lulavs surrounded by the inscription ‫ארבע‬ ‫שנת‬ ‫רביע‬ (Year Four One Quarter) and on its obverse an etrog with the inscription ‫ציון‬ ‫לגאלת‬ (see, e.g., ibid., plate 19:29-29a).A third coin shows on its reverse a lulav flanked by an etrog on either side accompanied by the legend ‫ארבע‬ ‫שנת‬ (Year Four), and on its obverse a chalice or goblet with the caption ‫ציון‬ ‫לגאלת‬ (see, e.g., ibid., plate 19:30-30d).See also Donald T. Ariel, "Identifying the Mints, Minters and Meanings of the First Jewish Revolt Coins," in The Jewish Revolt against Rome: Interdisciplinary Perspectives (ed.Mladen Popović; JSJSup 154; Leiden: Brill, 2011) 373-97, esp.376.Meshorer has explained the choice of the "four species" motif on coins of the Jewish War by the fact that the Feast of Tabernacles was "a festival of national pride" and palm branches were a symbol of victory (Meshorer, Ancient Jewish Coinage, 2:118).The similarities in the depiction of the "four species" on the coins of the First and the Second Revolts makes it likely that Bar Kosiba minters were familiar with the coins of the First Jewish Revolt.However, they introduced a major innovation by systematically and exclusively associating this symbol with a representation of the temple facade, turning the "four species" into a temple inauguration motif. 30The importance of Sukkot for Bar Kosiba's propaganda is reflected by the use of other symbols on his coins that are related to this festival (exclusively or not).Thus, for instance, a common motif is the palm branch (lulav) encircled by a wreath; see, e.g., Meshorer, Ancient Jewish Coinage, 2:plate 21:6-6h.While, as seen above, the palm branch is one of the four species used during the Feast of Tabernacles, references to wreaths in relation to Sukkot can be found in Jub.16:39.Likewise, the single-handled jug with a palm (or a willow?) branch to its right, which appears on Bar Kosiba https://doi.org/10.1017/S0017816024000099Published online by Cambridge University Press shown below, the association of the festival of Sukkot with the founding of temples and altars is a recurring motif in biblical tradition and Second Temple literature.
A prime and well-known example of this is provided by the biblical accounts of King Solomon's inauguration of the First Temple of Jerusalem.First Kings (ch.8) recounts that when Solomon had finished building the temple in Jerusalem, he assembled the priests and the leaders of Israel to bring the ark of the covenant from the City of David into the sanctuary "at the feast ‫,)בחג(‬ in the month of Ethanimthat is, the seventh month" (1 Kgs 8:2).According to the vast majority of scholars, "the feast" in this verse is to be identified as a reference to Sukkot. 31After the priests had placed the ark, the tent of meeting, and all the holy vessels into the holy of holies, a cloud manifesting the glory of the Lord filled the temple.Then, Solomon gave a prayer of dedication while standing before the altar, and, together with the people, he offered sacrifices in the sanctuary, while observing the festival of Sukkot (1 Kgs 8:65-66).
A retelling of the dedication of Solomon's Temple is found in 2 Chr 5:2-7:10; although it adds little to the account in 1 Kgs 8, it does display an interesting difference.
When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.The priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house.When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord on the temple, they bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and worshiped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, "For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever."(2 Chr 7:1-3 NRSV) As Itamar Kislev has noted, the depiction of the fire that descends from heaven to consume the sacrifices displays a similarity to the account of the inauguration of the tabernacle in the Sinai wilderness, for there too the sacrifices on the altar were consumed by divine fire (Lev 9:24). 32Also noteworthy is the emphasis that Solomon and all Israel observed the Feast of Tabernacles for seven days and the aseret on the twenty-third of the seventh month (2 Chr 7:8-9).Jeroboam's dedication of the Bethel temple coinciding with his institution of an alternate and rival Feast of Tabernacles on the fifteenth day in the eighth month (1 Kgs 12:32-33) provides a further example of connecting the celebration of Sukkot with the inauguration of a sanctuary. 33ikewise, the book of Ezra presents the restoration of sacrificial worship after the return from captivity in Babylon in the setting of the festival of Sukkot.According to Ezra 3:1-6, the rebuilding of the altar and the resumption of the sacrificial service by Joshua (son of Jozadak the High Priest) and Zerubbabel (son of Shealtiel) coincided with the celebration of the Festival of Booths.In all likelihood, Ezra 3:1-6 deliberately cast the restoration of worship after the exile in the same mode as the ceremony of inauguration of the Temple of Solomon.In this regard, Jeffrey Rubinstein stated: "The initiation of the festival cycle on Sukkot recalls the dedication of Solomon's Temple, and the parallel serves to confer legitimacy on the restored cult.Just as God responded to the dedication of the First Temple by Solomon, so the efforts of Yeshua and Zerubavel should receive divine favor." 34 further important example of associating Sukkot with the inauguration of the temple is found in the book of Zechariah.In chapter 14, the prophet predicts the coming day of the Lord after the destruction of Jerusalem by the nations: God will come forth and rebuild his city, causing the nations to convert to worship of him.Then, Zechariah envisions the celebration of Sukkot in the restored temple.Although this vision does not portray any dedication ceremony, it does depict a new sanctuary and the advent of a new era. 35he motif of the coinciding of the dedication of the temple with the celebration of Sukkot is also found in later Second Temple literature.In this respect, certain passages of 2 Maccabees are of direct interest to our discussion.Second Maccabees claims to be an epitome of Jason of Cyrene's lost work that comprised five volumes.While Jason's work is usually ascribed to the first Hasmonaean generation, the date of its abridgement is still disputed; it has been variously dated between the reign of John Hyrcanus (134-104 BCE) and Pompey's conquest of Judea (63 BCE). 36econd Maccabees deals with the Jews' revolt against Antiochus IV Epiphanes until the defeat of the Seleucid general Nicanor (161 BCE).Of special interest is the second of the two letters that are appended to the abridgment of Jason's history (2 Macc 1:10-2:18), both of which instruct the Jews of Egypt to join the Jews in Judea in commemorating the purification of the Jerusalem temple by observing the newly instituted "feast of Tabernacles in the month of Kislev" (1:9). 37The second letter says: "Inasmuch as we are about to celebrate, on the twenty-fifth of Kislev, the Purification of the temple, we thought we ought to let you know, so that you, too, might celebrate it as Days of Tabernacles and Days of the Fire, as when Nehemiah, the builder of the temple and the altar, brought sacrifices" (1:18). 38he letter contains a story about Nehemiah dedicating the newly rebuilt altar with the remains of the sacred fire, which the priests of the First Temple had hidden away before they were taken into exile. 39This fire was preserved underground in a thick liquid form and miraculously went up in flames when poured upon the altar and exposed to the sun. 40As seen above, that dedication occurred at the time of the festival of Sukkot.The first eight verses of the next chapter go on to say that it was the prophet Jeremiah who had instructed the captives to take sacred fire from the altar.Jeremiah himself took the holy tent, the ark, and the altar of incense and sealed them in a cave on Mount Nebo, where they would remain undiscovered until God again gathers his people.
"At that time the Lord will bring these things to light again and the Glory of the Lord and the cloud will be seen, as they were over Moses and as Solomon, too, requested, in order that the Place should be greatly sanctified."We are also told that Solomon in his wisdom offered a sacrifice in honor of the dedication and completion of the temple.Just as Moses prayed to the Lord and fire came down from heaven and devoured the sacrifices, so Solomon prayed, and fire came down and consumed the burnt offerings.(2 Macc 2:8-10) 41 Most noteworthy is the recurrent motif of the sacred fire descending from heaven at the dedications of Moses, Solomon, and Nehemiah.It appears thus that the epistle in 2 Macc 1:9 -2:18 had two goals.The first goal was to legitimize the altar of the Second Temple by using the theme of sacred fire as a symbol of God's presence and of his approval. 42The second goal was to connect the rededication of the temple by Judah Maccabeus (celebrated "as Days of Tabernacles and Days of the Fire") to the dedications by Solomon and Nehemiah who inaugurated the temple and altar on Sukkot. 43Moreover, Daniel Schwartz has proposed that the account of Judas Maccabeus rededicating the altar by igniting rocks and extracting fire from them (2 Macc 10:3) was an implicit reference to the rocks on which the viscous liquid was poured at the time of Nehemiah. 44Also noteworthy is the fact that 2 Macc 10:7 says that during the festival of purification of the temple, the Jews carried "wreathed wands, and branches bearing ripe fruit, and palm fronds," which is most likely a reference to the four species used during the Feast of Tabernacles. 45nother reference to a connection between Sukkot and the inauguration of an altar can be found in the book of Jubilees (16:20-31), which records that it was Abraham who introduced the Feast of Tabernacles, when after the birth of the promised child Isaac, he built an altar beside the Well of the Oath.
In light of the above, I propose that the iconography on Bar Kosiba's tetradrachm is probably referring to this ancient tradition setting the dedication of the temple (or of altars) in the context of the Feast of Tabernacles.In other words, combining a depiction of the temple facade with symbols related to the festival of Sukkot on Bar Kosiba's tetradrachms was intended to represent and announce the coming inauguration of the new sanctuary. 46A Representation of the Descent of Heavenly Fire or of the Glory of God Furthermore, such a proposition opens new perspectives on the study of other symbols on Bar Kosiba's coinage, among which is the star-like item depicted above the temple on the tetradrachms from the second year of the revolt onward.Interpreting this design has been an object of intense discussion.A popular understanding has been to view it as a stellar design alluding to the Aramaic nickname Bar Kokhba (Son of the Star), which was given to the leader of the Jewish revolt, with a probable messianic reference to Num 24:17. 47The sobriquet is found transliterated in patristic literature, where he is named Βαρχωχεβας, 48 Χοχεβᾶς 49 or Cochebas. 50Eusebius, in an account probably derived from Aristo of Pella's lost Disputatio Iasonis et Papisci, explicitly links this name to the Jewish leader's Messianic self-understanding: At that time the one who led the Jews was a man by the name of Barchochebas, which in fact means "star" (ἀστέρα).He was a man in all respects murderous and criminal, yet, based on his name, he tricked them like slaves into thinking that he was a star come down to them from heaven, to illuminate those suffering evil. 51 this regard, we should also mention the famous rabbinic tradition, according to which Rabbi Akiba saw in Bar Kosiba the fulfillment of Balaam's oracle of the star rising out of Jacob (Num 24:17) and identified him as the king messiah: R. Shimon b.Yohai taught, My teacher Akiba used to expound: A star ‫)כוכב(‬ shall step forth from Jacob (Num.24:17): Koziba steps forth from Jacob.When R. Akiba saw Bar Koziba, he exclaimed: This one is the king messiah.R. Yohanan b.Torta said to him, Akiba, grass will grow between your jaws and still the son of David will not have come. 52entifying the star-like item as a messianic star has been seriously questioned by scholars such as Gedalyahu Alon and Leo Mildenberg, according to whom neither Bar Kosiba's coinage nor the documents and letters found in the Judean desert hint at any messianic self-awareness on the part of the rebel chief.In their opinion, this design is a common rosette devoid of symbolic value. 53Without entering into the debate on Bar Kosiba's messianic status, 54 the main difficulty with the identification of the star-like design as a messianic stellar symbol alluding to Bar Kosiba is that the nickname Bar Kokhba does not appear on the coins and weights 55 from the Second Revolt or in the documents from the Judean desert. 56It seems to have been neither a self-designation of Bar Kosiba himself nor a key element in his official propaganda. 57This being said, it seems very unlikely that the design above the temple is merely a decorative device and has no symbolic signification.Mildenberg himself emphasized the great care with which the rebel administration chose the legends and symbols on Bar Kosiba's coinage for propaganda purposes. 58nother interpretation has been suggested according to which the star-like item represents the golden chandelier bestowed by Queen Helena of Adiabene. 59ccording to the Mishnah (Yoma 3:10), it was placed "over the opening of the temple" ‫היכל(‬ ‫של‬ ‫פתחו‬ ‫.)על‬The Babylonian Talmud (Yoma 37b) says that when the sun rose, sparkling rays of light would emanate from the candelabra because it was polished.The difficulty with this proposition is that the item depicted on Bar Kosiba's tetradrachm is above the sanctuary and not part of it.It is therefore unlikely that it was a temple accessory.Furthermore, we note with Michael Avi-Yonah that according to the Mishnah, Queen Helena's lamp "was not placed above the outer door of the temple, the door of the ullam (porch), but over the inner door to the sanctuary (hekhal)." 60n my opinion, the star-like design should be understood within the context of the iconic depiction of the inauguration of the temple.This leads me to propose two alternative but related interpretations of this item.First, it may be a representation of the holy fire descending from heaven to consume the sacrifices on the altar of burnt offerings.As seen above, this motif, which is found in several biblical accounts that describe the inauguration of the temple (or of an altar), 61 was taken as a confirmation that God had accepted the dedication.There is another possible interpretation.In a study from 1942, Paul Romanoff proposed: "The star (sc. on Bar Kosiba tetradrachm), suggesting a pedimental star, may have represented celestial abode, as the temple actually symbolized the world and the Holy of Holies, the Seat of Divine Glory."62If I am correct in understanding the imagery on Bar Kosiba's tetradrachms as a representation of the inauguration of the temple, then the star may more accurately represent the return of the glory of God ‫יהוה(‬ ‫.)כבוד‬In the biblical narrative, the glory of God symbolizes the divine presence of God. 63he glory filling the newly built tabernacle of Moses (Exod 40:34; Num 9:15-23) and the Temple of Solomon after the ark of the covenant was placed in it (1 Kgs 8:11; 2 Chr 5:13b-14; see also 2 Chr 7) indicates the entrance of God into his divine dwelling place.In the book of Ezekiel, the glory of God leaves the temple because of the sins of the Israelites (11:23), but in the eschatological age, it will once again take up permanent residence in the rebuilt temple (43:2). 64After 70 CE, the tradition about God's presence departing from the temple is echoed in writings responding to the destruction the Second Temple; 65 likewise, the hope was expressed that the sanctuary would be restored and God would situate his presence in it. 66In the Priestly source, Yahweh's glory is depicted as a blazing fire surrounded by a cloud; 67 elsewhere in biblical literature, it is pictured as having a physical appearance of radiant light.A famous example is found in Isa 60:1-3, which emphasizes the restoration of Jerusalem and the shining brilliance of the glory resting over the city. 68Also noteworthy is the connection of the glory of God to the fire coming down from heaven to consume the sacrifices on the altar, as is found in several biblical texts including the account of the dedication of the temple in 2 Chr 7:1. 69 A Representation of the Placing of the Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies If my proposition that the imagery on Bar Kosiba's tetradrachms is to be understood as a representation of the dedication of the temple is indeed correct, then this may also shed new light on the controversial identification of the square structure with a semicircle top that is inserted inside the facade of the building.Among the above-mentioned proposals that have been advanced, 70 the one that would best fit the context of the inauguration of the temple is to identify this object as the ark of the covenant.As seen above, the accounts of the ceremonial inauguration of Solomon's Temple in 1 Kgs 8 and 2 Chr 5 report that the main ritual act of the dedication (which was held around the time of Sukkot) was the placing of the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies.It was only then that the glory of God filled the sanctuary (1 Kgs 8:6-11).Against this proposal, it has been argued that the ark had disappeared following the Babylonian sack of Jerusalem in the sixth century BCE, and that both Josephus (J.W. 5.219) 71 and the Mishnah (Šeqal.1-2) clearly say that the ark was not in the Second Temple.For this reason, Dan Barag has seriously questioned the likelihood that Bar Kosiba made the claim of restoring the ark. 72However, this argument is not compelling, because traditions about the concealment of the ark of the covenant prior to the Babylonian conquest are not rare in late Second Temple and post-destruction writings.As already mentioned, according to 2 Macc 2:1-8, just before the Israelites were exiled to Babylon, Jeremiah hid the ark on Mount Nebo and then professed: 73 more than likely that the imagery on the tetradrachms is an idealized representation of the expected inauguration of the temple. 77It seems safe to assume that Bar Kosiba's propaganda campaign sought to promote the idea that the restoration of the temple would be a full restoration that would include the placing of the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies, symbolizing God's presence in the temple (unlike the restoration following the return from Babylon). 78Bar Kosiba Tetradrachms as a Response to the Foundation Coin of Aelia Capitolina Considered in a larger context, Bar Kosiba tetradrachms may also be interpreted as a response to Hadrian coinage, and more specifically to the coin type struck in celebration of the inauguration of Aelia Capitolina.The date of the founding of Aelia Capitolina on the ruins of Jerusalem has long been a focal point of scholarly debate: while many consider that the colony was established before the Second Jewish Revolt broke out, as reported by Cassius Dio, 79 others have dated it after the suppression of the uprising as stated in Eusebius's writings. 80However, recent archaeological finds seem to confirm Cassius Dio's statement.Shlomit Weksler-Bdolah has demonstrated, on the basis of numismatic and epigraphic evidence and archaeological remains from the Eastern Cardo (the Western Wall Plaza), that the inauguration of Aelia Capitolina should be linked to Hadrian's visit to the city in 129/130 CE.Indeed, by that time, the city already had main streets, plazas, and public and private buildings, and it is likely that Hadrian himself came to officially proclaim the founding of the colony. 81ost interesting are the bronze coins struck to commemorate the founding of Aelia Capitolina (fig.2).On the obverse of the coins is a portrait of Hadrian with a laurel wreath on his head and the

inscription IMP[ERATORI] CAES[ARI] TRAI[ANO] HADRIANO AVG[USTO] P[ATRI] P[ATRIAE] (To Imperator Caesar
Trajan Hadrian Augustus, Father of the Fatherland).On the reverse is a depiction of the ceremonial founding of the colony with the inscription: COL[ONIA] AEL[IA] CAPIT[OLINA] and in exergue COND[ITA] (The Founding of the Colony of Aelia Capitolina). 82Hadrian (?) is represented wearing a toga and plowing the sulcus primigenius, the "first furrow," with a plow attached to an ox and a cow to establish the sacred limits (pomerium) of the new colony.The coin bears no date, but based on the legend on its obverse, Hannah Cotton and Avner Ecker have placed it between 128 CE-the year when Hadrian received the title of Pater Patriae-and 138 CE. 83 Rachel Bar Nathan and Gabriela Bijovsky have recently narrowed this dating to 128-130 CE on the basis of the discovery of a foundation coin of Aelia Capitolina at the site of Shuaʿfat, an urban Jewish settlement about three miles north of Jerusalem that was built circa 70 CE and abandoned circa 130 CE. 84 It is thus obvious that the minting of this coin antedated the outbreak of the Second Jewish Revolt.Accordingly, it is not unlikely that the imagery of Bar Kosiba's tetradrachm that represents the ritual inauguration of the temple of Jerusalem was a response to the imagery of Hadrian's coin representing the ritual foundation of Aelia Capitolina on the ruins of Jerusalem. 85This would be a further illustration In earlier studies, Meshorer, followed by Hanan Eshel and Boaz Zissu, had already sustained that the coins of Aelia's founding type were struck before the end of the Second Revolt, basing their claim on the fact that coins of this type were discovered in some of the hoards of Bar Kosiba coins.See, e.g., Ya'akov Meshorer, "A Hoard of Coins from Hebron Hill Area," in Bar Kokhba Revolt (ed.Oppenheimer) 69-70 (in Hebrew); Hanan Eshel and Boaz Zissu, "Coins from the el-Jai Cave in Nahal Mikhmash (Wadi Suweinit)," INJ 14 (2002) 168-75.However, the validity of the evidence put forward by Meshorer has been questioned, since it was not discovered in controlled excavations.Likewise, some doubts have been expressed about whether the coins of Bar Kosiba and of Aelia Capitolina found by Eshel and Zissu in El-Jai cave did actually constitute a hoard.On this, see the discussion in Benjamin Isaac, "Jerusalem-an Introduction," in Jerusalem, 1-704 (vol.1/1 of Corpus Inscriptionum Iudaeae/Palaestinae; ed.Hannah M. Cotton et al.; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2010) 1-37, esp.19. 85 In this context, it could be proposed that the legend ‫ירושלם‬ (Jerusalem) on the tetradrachms, which, as seen above (n.46), was probably understood as a symbol for the rebuilding of the temple, was also intended to function as a strong refutation of the name Aelia Capitolina struck on Hadrian's coins.
of what Mildenberg called "the political astuteness" with which Bar Kosiba and his men chose coins "to match Hadrian's" coinage. 86

 Conclusion
This article has proposed that the facade of the temple on the obverse of Bar Kosiba's tetradrachm and the four species on its reverse side are complementary symbols, for they work together in a relationship that expounds on the theme of the (planned) inauguration of the restored temple. 87This interpretation also offers a coherent explanation for the star-like symbol above the temple and the square item in its center, which are likely to represent the holy fire or the glory of God descending from heaven after the placing of the ark of the covenant in the holy of holies.
If my interpretation of the Bar Kosiba tetradrachms is correct, then it confirms the fact that he made shrewd use of coins for propaganda and that he chose the symbols and legends on his coinage with considerable care.More significantly, it might also shed additional light on the ideology of his regime.The imagery on the tetradrachms was not only intended to proclaim the planned reconstruction of the temple, it was also meant to connect Bar Kosiba's action with the biblical precedents of Solomon, Zerubbabel, Nehemiah, and Judah Maccabeus, as well as to present it as the realization of biblical prophecies about the future restoration and the return of the glory of God.In addition to these considerations, it is not unlikely that the symbolic representation of the expected inauguration of the restored temple was also chosen with the intent to respond to the coins Hadrian issued to commemorate the founding of Aelia Capitolina. 86Mildenberg, Coinage of the Bar Kokhba War, 72. 87 This conclusion is also valid for the rare silver didrachm (shekel) of Bar Kosiba, which depicts types almost similar to those of the tetradrachms.The obverse of the didrachm depicts a distyle facade with a flat root that stands on a three-stepped podium and with an inner item between the columns; the reverse shows three of the four species (the etrog is lacking).It bears Paleo-Hebrew inscriptions: ‫שמעון‬ (Shimon) on the obverse and ‫ירושלים‬ ‫לחרות‬ (To the Freedom of Jerusalem) on the reverse.See Leo Mildenberg, "A Bar Kokhba Didrachm, " INJ 8 (1984-1985) 33-36.The item between the pillars has a chest form and stands on two feet, but it differs from the one on the tetradrachms in that it has no semicircular top.While, according to Mildenberg, it is a representation of the ark of the covenant (Mildenberg, "Didrachm"), Dan Barag has proposed that it is a representation of the shewbread table (Barag, "Shewbread").

FiguresFig. 1
Figures Fig. 1: A tetradrachm found in Sabar cave near Ein Gedi, from the third year of the Second Revolt, with the inscriptions "Shimon" on the obverse and "To the Freedom of Jerusalem" on the reverse.Reproduced with permission of Roi Porat.Photograph by Zeev Radovan.

Fig. 2 :
Fig. 2: A coin from Colonia Aelia Capitolina depicting Hadrian as the founder of the colony.Reproduced with permission of the British Museum Images.Image © The Trustees of the British Museum.

vision of Interpretation," in Follow the Wise: Studies in Jewish History and Culture in Honor of Lee I. Levine (ed. Zeev Weiss et al.; New York: Jewish Theological
COND(itori) ("the colonia Aelia Capitolina to its founder"); see Hannah M. Cotton and Avner Ecker, "The Date of the Founding of Aelia Capitolina," in The Oxford Handbook of Numismatics (ed.William E. Metcalf; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012) 492-98, esp.492.83SeeCotton and Ecker, "Date," 492-93.84RachelBar-Nathan and Gabriela Bijovsky, "The Emperor Plowing: Cause or Effect?A Hadrianic Coin from Excavations at Shuʿafat and the Foundation of Aelia Capitolina," Israel Numismatic Research 13 (2018) 139-50.