page_title: Thirty pieces of silver
section_title: Types of coin
hierarchical_section_title: Thirty pieces of silver / Types of coin
caption_attribution_description: English: An illustration from the Encyclopaedia Biblica, a 1903 publication which is now in the public domain. Fig. C for article "Shekel". Image of a half-shekel from Tyre in the year 102 BC. The human-like head is that of Melkarth, the Tyrian deity (often called, slightly misleadingly, the 'Tyrian Hercules'). On the other side of the coin is an eagle with one foot on the prow of a galley. Next to it is a club, which is a symbol of Melkarth. It says "Year 24, [coin] of Tyre, the sacred and inviolable [city]"
context_page_description: Thirty pieces of silver was the price for which Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus, according to an account in the Gospel of Matthew 26:15 in the New Testament. Before the Last Supper, Judas is said to have gone to the chief priests and agreed to hand over Jesus in exchange for 30 silver coins, and to have attempted to return the money afterwards, filled with remorse.
  The Gospel of Matthew claims that the subsequent purchase of the Potter's field was fulfilment, by Jesus, of a prophecy of Zechariah.
  The image has often been used in artwork depicting the Passion of Christ. The phrase is used in literature and common speech to refer to people "selling out", compromising a trust, friendship, or loyalty for personal gain.
context_section_description: The word used in Matthew 26:15 (ἀργύρια, argyria) simply means "silver coins," and scholars disagree on the type of coins that would have been used. Donald Wiseman suggests two possibilities. They could have been tetradrachms of Tyre, usually referred to as Tyrian shekels (14 grams of 94% silver), or staters from Antioch (15 grams of 75% silver), which bore the head of Augustus. Alternatively, they could have been Ptolemaic tetradrachms (13.5 ± 1 g of 25% silver). There are 31.1035 grams per troy ounce. At spot valuation of $17.06/oz (the closing price on Monday, December 12, 2016), 30 "pieces of silver" would be worth between $185 and $216 in present-day value (USD).
  The Tyrian shekel weighed four Athenian drachmas, about 14 grams, more than earlier 11-gram Israeli shekels, but was regarded as the equivalent for religious duties at that time. Because Roman coinage was only 80% silver, the purer (94% or more) Tyrian shekels were required to pay the temple tax in Jerusalem. The money changers referenced in the New Testament Gospels (Matt. 21:12 and parallels) exchanged Tyrian shekels for common Roman currency.
  The 5th century BC Athenian tetradrachm ("four drachmae") coin was perhaps the most widely used coin in the Greek world before the time of Alexander the Great (along with the Corinthian stater). It featured the helmeted profile bust of Athena on the obverse (front) and an owl on the reverse (back). In daily use they were called γλαῦκες glaukes (owls), hence the proverb Γλαῦκ’ Ἀθήναζε, 'an owl to Athens', referring to something that was in plentiful supply, like 'coals to Newcastle'. The reverse is featured on the national side of the modern Greek 1 euro coin. Drachmae were minted on different weight standards at different Greek mints. The standard that came to be most commonly used was the Athenian or Attic one, which weighed a little over 4.3 grams. A drachma was approximately a day's pay for a skilled laborer.  So 30 pieces of silver (30 tetradrachm), at four drachmas each,  would roughly be comparable to four months' (120 days) wages.
  In the medieval period some religious institutions displayed ancient Greek coins of the island of Rhodes as specimens of the Thirty Pieces of Silver. The obverses of these coins showed a facing head of the sun god Helios, with rays projecting around the upper part of it. These rays were interpreted as a representation of the Crown of Thorns.
  The extracanonical Narrative of Joseph of Arimathea records that Judas was paid 30 pieces of gold, not silver.
caption: A Tyrian shekel, another possibility for the type of coin involved.
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