SIMON BAR-COCHAB. —The coinage of Simon Bar-cochab consists chiefly of re-struck a'enariz; which, weighing so nearly a quarter of a shekel, could be used without any difficulty in the coinage. The conjecture that this leader bore the name of Simon' rests only on the authority of the coins, for all authorities call him Ben-Kosiba, Bar-Kosiba, Bar-Kochba, or Bar-cochebas. It seems certain that the names of the leaders in the first revolt must have been well known to the Jews in the second, and especially that of Simon, son of Gioras, and it is not surprising to find the words of the first revolt, and the name of one of the principal leaders, Simon,' struck by Bar-cochab on denarii of the CMsars. Taking into considera tion the very doubtful fact whether Bar-cochab ever held possession of Jerusalem (alluded to by Euseb., H. E., iv. 6 ; Chron. i. ; St. Jerome, Dan. ix. 27; Ezek. xxiv. izt; Appian, Syr., so; but not men tioned by Dio Cass., lxix. 14), and that the coins bear types evidently derived from the services of the temple (such as the trumpets, lyres, vases, etc.) which symbols could hardly have been understood In the 2d century after the destruction of the sanc tuary, it seems nearly certain that he was an imi tator of the coinage of Simon son of Gioras (cf.
Levy, gild. Munzen, pp. 122, I23).
The specimen here described is a quarter shekel struck over a denarius of Trajan.
Obv. ;WV', ` Simon,' written round a cluster of grapes.
Rev. thryint The deliverance of Jeru salem.' Two trumpets. AR 4.
On the obverse of this coin can be seen traces of the end of the laurel wreath which surrounded the head of the emperor, and on the reverse is a hand holding a branch, The actual coin on which this was struck was issued in the 5th consulship of Trajan (A.D. los), and has on the reverse the
figure of Arabia holding a branch over a camel (see Cohen, Mid. Imp., vol. ii., p. lo, No. 47).
Shekels with the type of the porch of the temple and the blab, and above the temple a star, etc., are said to exist re-struck, on tetradrachms of Antioch, of Titus, Domitian, or Trajan (Cavedoni, Bibl, Num., vol. ii., p. 74). The original shekels are, as above stated, attributed by Levy to Simon, son of Gioras, but this star (cf. Num. xxiv. 17-24 ; and cbs i apapoil adrois karekrAvOan, Euseb. Hist. vi. 6) to our mind certainly alludes to Bar-cochab (1yo 11) ; and are there any of these shekels existing which are not restruck? After the defeat of Bar-cochab, Hadrian established a new kingdom with Jerusalem for a capital, calling it "Elia Capi tolina. A series of imperial colonial coins were there struck from the time of Hadrian (A.D. 136) to that of Herennius Etruscus and Hostilianus (A.D. 251).
The revolt of the Jews under Bar-cochab has usually been considered to be the last, but mention is made of another during the reign of Severus, after which ` Sonatas yndaicum triumphum decre verat (Spartian, in Sea. 16)2 St. Jerome also men tions it in his Chronicle (an V Sev.), 71za'aicum tt samariticzon bellunz ortum vel resumplunz.' It cannot have been of any importance, and of it there are no coins.