Tiberius Denarius-As Known As 'Tribute Penny'

The collection to be introduced this time is the denarius of Tiberius, well known as the tribute penny.It is popular among collectors because it is mentioned in the Bible.



Obverse design: Tiberius wearing a laurel wreath

TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS

Tinerius Caesar Divi Augustus filius Augustus

Tiberius Caesar, son of divine Augustus, emperor (Augustus)

(Translation source: Numista)

Silver coins from the early Roman Imperial had small coin blanks, so it was rare for the inscriptions to be cut or erased. Although some of the inscriptions were crushed, they remained intact without any cut or erased parts.The design is in an excellent state of preservation, and the portrait of Tiberius is completely preserved, with no damage whatsoever except for a small, faint X-shaped scratch on the front.The only disappointing thing is that the ear is sculpted so thinly that they are indistinguishable from the hair.It is clearly visible in the photo, but it is a bit confusing to the naked eye.



Back design:Pax seated holding a scepter

PONTIF MAXIM

Pontifex Maximus

High priest

(Translation source: Numista)

It is a sculpture of Tiberius' mother Livia seated in the shape of Pax, and is so well preserved that even the wrinkles on her clothes remain intact.



...Later they sent some of the Pharisees and Herodians to Jesus to catch him in his words. They came to him and said, "Teacher, we know that you are a man of integrity. You aren't swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are; but you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. Is it right to pay the imperial tax to Caesar or not? Should we pay or shouldn't we?"

But Jesus knew their hypocrisy. "Why are you trying to trap me?" he asked. "Bring me a denarius and let me look at it." They brought the coin, and he asked them, "Whose image is this? And whose inscription?"

"Caesar's," they replied.

Then Jesus said to them, "Give back to Caesar what is Caesar's and to God what is God's."

And they were amazed at him.

(mark 12:17)

As mentioned earlier, this coin is widely known as the coin mentioned by Jesus in the Bible. During the time of Emperor Tiberius, when Jesus was missionary, denarius continued to be issued with similar designs, So it's easy to narrow down the candidates to what the actual tribute penny was. My coin is classified as RIC-30 and was minted between 18 and 35 years ago, when Jesus was a missionary. Of course, there were several other types of silver coins issued during that period, so only Jesus knows what the real Tribute penny is.(There is also a theory that the candidate for tribute penny is none other than Tiberius Denarius, but since I could not find detailed information on this in Korea, I will omit the detailed explanation.)

This concludes this introduction. Because this article is quite long, I had to borrow the help of a translator to write it, so please understand if the interpretation is unnatural or my English is poor.