Origin: Jerusalem, Israel
Circa: 132 AD to 133 AD
Collection: Jewelry
Style: Jewish Coin Rings
Medium: Bronze-Gold
Sixty-two years after the destruction of the second temple, the second major war against the Romans broke out--the bar Kokhba revolt. Carefully and secretly prepared, this war was prompted by Hadrian’s wish to install Greco- Roman culture with even greater force. The spiritual leader of the revolt was Rabbi Akiva, while the military and civil leader was Simeon bar Koseva (Shimon bar Kokhba). This war was much fiercer than the first Jewish revolt, and the Romans were initially hard pressed. The twenty - second legion was defeated and completely wiped out and Hadrian, in his report to the senate at the end of the war, even omitted the customary mention of the army's well being. The exact extent of the territory controlled by bar Kokhba is not quite clear, but he certainly held the Hebron district, part of Idumea and the Dead Sea region (where the last of his fighters took shelter in desert caves). It is still not known for certain if he indeed took Jerusalem, if only for a short time. The last major stand was at Bethar, and the war came to an end following bar Kokhba's death there. From his coins, and from the documents found in the Judean desert, it is known that bar Kokhba styled himself nasi (prince) of Israel. The coins of this revolt constitute the last ancient Jewish coinage and it is quite remarkable that in that hour of bitter struggle and dire peril, the Jews took pains to mint the most pleasing series of coins ever issued in that country. Bar Kokhba had learned from the Romans how to utilize coinage as a means of mass propaganda; hence the nationalistic motifs and slogans that appear on the coins. On one side of this distinctive coin appears a palm tree, symbolic of fruitful abundance, with an inscription that reads, "Jerusalem." the reverse side of the coin depicts an abstract image of a grape cluster, with an inscription reading "for the redemption of Israel." to wear this extraordinary coin, set in a radiant gold ring, is to share a powerful emotion with the people who first used the coin so many centuries ago. - (FJ.5159)

Antiquities
Ancient Jewelry