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Silver Half-Shekel

Silver coin used to pay the half-shekel tax to the Second Temple, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

This rare silver coin was discovered in 2008 during archaeological excavations in the main drainage channel of Jerusalem from the time of the Second Temple, in the City of David. The coin is a shekel denomination that was customarily used to pay a half-shekel head tax in the Second Temple period. This shekel weighs 13 grams and bears the head of Melqart, the chief deity of the city of Tyre, on the obverse (equivalent to the Semitic god Baal) and an eagle upon a ship’s prow on the reverse. The coin was struck in the year 22 C.E.

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Silver coin used to pay the half-shekel tax to the Second Temple, according to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

The supreme male divinity of Mesopotamia and Canaan.

The patron deity of the Phoenician city of Tyre, mentioned in Phoenician inscriptions.

The structure built in Jerusalem in 516 B.C.E. on the site of the Temple of Solomon, destroyed by the Babylonians seventy years prior. The Second Temple was destroyed in 70 C.E. by the Romans responding to Jewish rebellion.

The historical period during which the second temple was standing in Jerusalem, from its dedication around 516 B.C.E. until its destruction by the Romans in 70 C.E.