“From the Maccabean Revolt to the Roman Civil War: Coinage and Jewish History” with Noah Kaye

The Maccabean Crisis that ended in Hanukah (164 BCE) is often remembered as a famous cultural conflict against or over Hellenism. But to truly understand what the Maccabees were fighting for or against, we need to know what the arrival of Seleucid rulers in 198 BCE meant for regular people and coinage can provide that perspective.

During the Roman civil war of 49–45 BCE that pitted Caesar and his party against Pompey and his supporters, Jews in Asia Minor (Turkey) and on the east Greek island of Cos found themselves caught in the middle. Here, too, the images on coins provide unique historical insights.

Noah Kaye is an associate professor in the History Department at MSU and an affiliate faculty of the Serling Institute for Jewish Studies and Modern Israel. He has published articles on the world of the Maccabees in journals such as Histor ia and the Journal for the Study of Judaism. He is currently working with Israeli archaeologists to find new ways of seeing the past by using data science to investigate the coin archive of the Israel Antiquities Authority.