What type of currency did the Jews of Jesus' time use?

Answer 1

The basic unit was the silver denarius, equal to the Greek drachma, a good day's wage. For very large transactions or the savings of the wealthy, there was a gold coin, the aureus, worth 25 denarii. The silver four drachma piece, also called a stater, was equal to the Semitic shekel.

Copper coins served the needs of daily life. The ordinary copper coin was the as, originally named assarion. Four asses made one sestertius, sixteen asses one denarius. The smallest Roman coin was the quadrans, one quarter of an as. Mark's Gospel explains that one quadrans equalled two smaller coins: the lepton (or a prutah in Hebrew).

The average cost of a loaf of bread was an as. Two sparrows sold for one as, or five for two (Matthew 10:29; Luke 12:6).

The Judean currency was minted without an image of the emperor, in respect for the sensitivities of the Jews, who would not allow any images of animals or people. Thus the coin that Mark's Gospel says that Peter found in the mouth of a fish, and which had the image of Caesar, could not have been of Judean manufacture.

On Mount Carmel (part of first-century Galilee) in 1960, a hoard of 4,500 silver pieces was found. Most of them are shekels and half-shekels of Tyre, the rest are hundreds of denarii bearing the images of Augustus and Tiberius.

Answer 2

At the time they had two types of currency , the Jewish one , Jesus mentions the shekel in his parables. And then there was the Roman currency to be used to pay the Romans tax. we must bear in mind Jerusalem was visited by people who came from far and near for the passover. so any currencies were in.

Answer 3

In Jesus' time, as in all times since the rise of civilisation, there were different sorts of money in use in different parts of the world. China, India, the Parthian Empire, the Mediterranean world, and North-West Europe used stamped pieces of precious metal as money, in other places there were "commodity moneys", in which (for example) cocoa beans, quetzal feathers, goats, sheep, cows, bushels of grain etc. were used as standards of value and a medium of exchange.

In the area in which Jesus lived and taught there were several different precious-metal currencies that were in circulation at the time. Greek gold staters, silver staters, drachmas, and obols were still being minted until 50 AD, besides which large amounts remained in circulation from the Seleucid and Ptolemaic (Egyptian) mints. The standard coins of the Parthian Empire to the east were silver tetradrachms on the Greek standard. Some Phoenician cities (such as Tyre) minted silver and gold shekels. (Shekels were the standard in which Jewish temple taxes were calculated. The thirty pieces of silver paid to Judas were most likely silver shekels.) And then of course there would have been a lot of Roman coins in circulation: copper asses, bronze sestercii, silver quinarii and denarii…. People would have been used to a lot of different coins. However, the official local currencies of Palestine in the first third of the first century were the coinages of the Herodian dynasty and equivalent denominations issued by Roman procurators of Palestine. These were bronze coins, of rather small value, used for everyday small purchases.

Answer 4

I don't know the name, but since Judea was under the rule of Caesar Augusta, it would be safe bet to say they used Roman currency. I've heard that Judea in that time was a hot bed of trade. So most likely they used currency from different nations as well.

Answer 5

Jesus was "ratted out" to the authorities in exchange for silver--Jesus mentions a slave who owed gold pieces to his master...

Answer 6

Jesus used the Jewish money as well as the roman currency.

Answer 7

in Jesus time the money was called decimal

Answer 8

Not a lot that's all i can say

Answer 9

roman coins, denari, mites