Taking their cue from the Romans, many other communities of the Roman empire,
both cities and neighboring kingdoms, adopted images of buildings as badges of
communal identity appropriate for adorning their coins. Well-known examples
include the Ephesians, whose famous temple of Artemis makes regular appearances
(fig. 11.9), the Jews, whose destroyed temple reappears on the coins of the Second
Revolt in the 130sad (fig. 11.10), and the Heliopolitans, whose great temple of
Jupiter appears on coins from the reign of Septimius Severus (fig. 11.11). The coins
suggest that, for these communities, the symbolized idea, as well as the experience
of the physical reality, of their great temples, or, in the case of the Jews, their painful
experience of its absence, was central to the public articulation of their identities.Religion and Roman Coins 149Figure 11.9 Ephesian bronze coin from the reign of Antoninus Pius (ad138 – 61),
showing the temple of Artemis with cult statue. 34 mm.
Figure 11.10 Silver shekel of the Second Jewish Revolt (ad132–5), depicting the
destroyed Jerusalem Temple. 27 mm.
Figure 11.11 Bronze coin of Heliopolis (modern Baalbek in Lebanon) from the reign of
Septimius Severus (ad193–211), with an aerial view of the temple. 25 mm.