JEWS OR PAGANS? 141imagesonthecoinsistakenasproofofthepaganismofthecitycouncils,how
are we to understand the mixture of Jewish and pagan types on Tiberias’s
Trajaniccoinage?Jones(CERP278)respondedtothisquestionbydismissing
the pagan types as “symbolical” rather than genuinely pagan (as later types
were, in his view), but this seems incorrect. Tyche and Hygieia may have
beenpersonifications,butthereisnodenyingtheirstatusandfunctionasreal
goddesses.And,conversely,iftheycouldbeusedmetaphoricallybyJews,why
not Zeus and Athena? And why, finally, should the emperors have taken the
initiativeof punishingcitiesthat hadnevermisbehaved,not even,apparently,
at the time of the Bar Kokhba revolt? It would not be implausible to suppose
that Sepphoris’s remarkable name change to Diocaesarea, reminiscent of its
adoption of the name Eirenopolis (Peace City) in 66, as well as Tiberias’s
constructionofatempleofHadrian,originatedinthe130sasthecitycouncils’
way ofdistancing themselves fromtheir rebellious Judaeancoreligionists, just
astheleadersofShechemduringtheMaccabeanrevoltaresaidtohavereded-
icated its Israelite temple to Zeus Xenios (2 Maccabees 5:22–23)—though
both developments may in fact be connected to Hadrian’s visit to Provincia
Judaea in 130.^41 But this does not explain Tiberias’s use of pagan coin types
earlier nor the continuity of the pagan types and pagan city names down into
the third century, as well as other manifestations of public paganism, to be
discussed below, even beyond.^42
ThecaseofLyddaisespeciallyilluminating.Thetownmayhavebeeneven
morecompletelyJewishthanTiberias;atanyrate,thereisalmostnoevidence
forthepermanentpresenceofpagans.^43 YetwhenthetownsupportedSeverus
in his civil war with Niger, the emperorrewardedthe Lyddans by recognizing
their urban status, granting the mthe na me Diospolis, and allowing the mto
mintcoinsofutterlypagantype.Itisnecessarilythecasethatthetownleaders
had requested the changes in status and name (the new name, as suggested
year 43 of Agrippa II (98–99?), before the city was under direct Roman rule. Note also a weight
fro m“Ro man period” Sepphoris na ming asagoranomoiSimon son of Aianos (= Hiyya?) and
Justus son of....SeeR.M.Nagy et al., eds.,Sepphoris in Galilee: Crosscurrents of Culture
(Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 1996), p. 201. Also,CIJ2.985, a Tiberian sarcophagus decor-
ated with Jewish symbols belonging to “Isidorosbouleutes.” See also J. Schwartz, “Hayei Yom-
Yom,” p. 107, arguing from rabbinic sources. Finally, a presumably Jewish city councillor from
Ono, in 291 (it is unclear whether Ono was a city or a village): CPJ 3, no. 473.
(^41) As was almost certainly true of Sepphoris’ name change; see above.
(^42) For an argument with similar tendencies that is used to explain the outbreak of the Bar
Kokhba revolt, see P. Scha ̈fer,DerBarKokhba-Aufstand.
(^43) See J. Schwartz,Lod, pp. 87–88, who interprets some rabbinic passages as evidence for
pagans and even Jewish Christians in the town in the second century (their presence is perfectly
plausibleregardlessofthevalidityoftheseinterpretations),whilerightlyinsistingonitsessentially
Jewish character. Certainly this is preferable to Jones (CERP278) who, unaware of rabbinic
literature, inferred fro mthe city’s coinage that it was entirely pagan. Interestingly, Jones’s reviser
for Palestine, M. Avi-Yonah, who certainly knew better, did not correct him.