The silver Shekel of the city of Tyre, Phoenicia (modern Lebanon) is one of the most popular and prized coins of the ancient world. Along with the ‘tribute penny’ silver denarius of Tiberius, it is one of two coins referenced in the New Testament that directly relate to the life of Christ. The reference for the Tyrian shekel derives from Matthew 26:15, which quotes Judas asking the local Jewish-Roman authorities “what are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” The text continues, “so they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.” The word used in the original Greek text is argyria, which simply translates to “silver coins.” There are three contenders for which specific coin that might have been.
 
1) The Roman silver denarius: highly unlikely, as they were mostly struck in Western provinces at mints in Italy and France and a coin that did not circulate much in Judaea at the time. The silver denarius of the emperor Tiberius (r. 14-37), who sat on the throne during Jesus’ lifetime, is the coin most often referred to as the ‘tribute penny’ cited in Mark 12:15 and Matthew 22:22. However, the original Greek text explicitly uses the word denarion there, making us more certain of the type. Tiberius tribute penny below:


2) Roman silver tetradrachms of Antioch: these did circulate in the Holy Land and bore the head of Caesar Augustus. Pictured below is a high-grade tetradrachm of Augustus with a fine portrait, dating to the year 1 BC-1 AD (the popular ‘Millennium Issue’). Sold by Miller Ancients in February 2024.


3) Non-Roman (Graeco-Phoenician) silver shekels of Tyre: by far the most likely candidate and the conventional choice, due to the reasons explained below.


 
First, Tyre was geographically closer to Judaea, located in modern Lebanon. Antioch is further north, in historical Syria (but modern Turkey). But the principal reason for attributing the Thirty Pieces of Silver as Tyrian shekels is that the Temple Tax – the duty all Jews paid to the Second Temple in Jerusalem – could only be paid in shekels of Tyre, which was at this point one of the only non-Roman currencies of the Mediterranean world. Given the fact that Judas was paid by Romano-Jewish religious authorities connected with the Second Temple, it makes sense that they would have paid him in the coins they used on a daily basis and took in through taxes. While it is uncertain which exact year Jesus was crucified, the two most common dates given are 30/1 AD and 33/4 AD, rendering this coin a potential “Year of the Crucifixion” issue.