Numerous Roman coins have been discovered bearing the words Iudea capta (Judea captured), marking the quashing of the Jewish revolt in the year 70 CE. But now archaeologists have discovered one inscribed with the more accurate phrase Iudea recepta (Judea recaptured). Raphael Poch explains what this discovery reveals about the way Vespasian, emperor of Rome, exploited his victory over the Jews:
The chief archivist of the department of archaeology and numismatics at the Israel Museum, Haim Gitler, explained that “in place of newspaper or Internet, the main form of media to spread propaganda in the time of antiquity was the minting of coins. . . . When it comes to the capta coins, it is simple propaganda. Vespasian wanted to make widely known to his people that it was he who conquered the Jews. Rome printed the coins until the year 81 CE [eleven years after the revolt]. . . . This war—and it was a war as opposed to a mere rebellion—was a particularly tough one for Rome, and one whose victory they wanted to highlight.”
Gitler and other scholars point to the fact that to date, only one of these coins has been found, signifying that there were very few minted. They explain the cause of this as being that Vespasian complied with Roman tradition in printing recepta coins for a province already captured, but regretted his decision due to the toll that the war took on the Romans, as well as the need to promote his own victories following the [period of political upheaval in Rome, which his reign brought to an end].
Read more on Breaking Israel News: http://www.breakingisraelnews.com/46016/2000-year-old-coin-sheds-light-on-roman-conquest-of-jerusalem/