Iudaea Recepta

This article, in memory of Alla Kushnir-Stein, discusses a newly discovered aureus, bearing a previously unattested legend, Iudaea recepta, and an equally unattested combination of iconographic elements on its reverse, issued immediately after the fall of Jerusalem in September, 70 CE. The idea of recepta, conveyed in both legend and iconography, was the resubjugation of an old province, indeed precisely what one would have expected after a revolt was put down. This message must have been deliberately suppressed soon after the coin was issued, in favor of the capta type associated with the acquisition of new territory.