Zev Radovan

Coins illustrate some of the last uses of paleo-Hebrew. The silver half-shekel from the First Jewish Revolt (66–70 A.D.) bears a pearl-rimmed chalice, above which are written the letters shin and bet, standing for sh[enat] b[et], or, the second year [of the war] (67 A.D.). On the reverse side of the coin is a stem with three pomegranates surrounded by the inscription “Jerusalem the Holy.”