Judea - "Widow's Mite" - Museum Gallery

October 2024

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Hasmonean Kingdom of Judea (Israel). Issue of Alexander Jannaeus (103 - 76 B.C.E.) AE Prutah (Lepton), ~16.3 mm, 1.92 gram, 12H, Legend between rays of star with eight rays within diadem. Inverted anchor. This is a very nice example of the common, low denomination coin of Judea. It has become associated with the famous coin mentioned in the Bible as the "Widow's Mite." While there was no 'mite' denomination, however, there was a mite at the time of the creation of the King James Bible, as indeed there had been at the time of earliest modern English translation of the New Testament by William Tyndale in 1525. The denomination was well known in the Southern Netherlands.
The Lesson of the widow's mite is presented in the Synoptic Gospels (Mark 12:41-44, Luke 21:1-4), in which Jesus is teaching at the Temple in Jerusalem. The Gospel of Mark specifies that two mites (Greek lepta) are together worth a quadrans, the smallest Roman coin. A lepton was the smallest and least valuable coin in circulation in Judea, worth about six minutes of an average daily wage.
In the story, a widow donates two small coins, while wealthy people donate much more. Jesus explains to his disciples that the small sacrifices of the poor mean more to God than the extravagant, but proportionately lesser, donations of the rich. (Wikipedia) (Agora Auctions #34, Lot 097)
For a great introduction to the coins of the Bible see the Nov 2017 issue of ANA's "Numismatist" at > [ link ]