This silver coin places the emperor Tiberius on one side and a seated female figure on the other. An ordinary instrument of payment also circulated an image of imperial authority across the Roman world.
Date / dating
14–37 CE
Historical region
Minted at Lugdunum, Roman Gaul; found in Suffolk, England
Holding collection / site
British Museum, London; 1988,0917.15
Material
Silver
Language / script
Latin coin legends
Place the object in time
Historical setting
The British Museum records production during Tiberius’s reign, 14–37 CE, at Lugdunum, now Lyon. This particular specimen was recovered from the Sutton hoard in Suffolk. Its findspot matters: it is a comparative example of Roman currency, not a coin excavated from a Gospel scene in Judea.
Observe before interpreting
Look closely
Compare the portrait with the small scale of the coin: how could authority travel through daily exchange?
List the seated figure’s visible attributes before deciding whether she represents a person or a personification.
History, Scripture, and theology
Why it matters
Matthew 22 invites readers to consider the political weight of an emperor’s image on money. A surviving denarius can illuminate that material setting without identifying the exact type Jesus was shown. The reverse figure’s uncertain identity also teaches a useful habit: describe what can be seen before choosing among proposed meanings.
What the record can establish
Evidence and limits
No evidence links this individual coin to Jesus, the Jerusalem Temple, or the exchange in Matthew 22.
The museum records competing identifications of the reverse figure, including Livia, Justitia, and Pax.
Essential storage keeps you signed in and remembers preferences. With your permission, Feason also uses first-party analytics and Google Ads conversion measurement to learn whether a campaign led to a useful action. Google measurement is disabled until you accept, and we disable ad personalization and remarketing. See our Privacy Policy for details.