Gifts for Jesus: Frankincense, Myrrh, and Gold... Coins?
The biblical story of the three wisemen who followed the Star of Bethlehem to find Jesus is one of the most significant tales told time and time again. Gifted to Jesus were three items: myrrh, frankincense, and gold. Given the information we know from this bible verse, we wanted to see what gold coinage was likely gifted to Jesus upon his birth.
The first thought that comes to mind would be to look at the area in which Jesus was born: Bethlehem. Since Bethlehem was in close proximity to the Roman empire, it follows that the gold given to Jesus could have been in the form of Roman coinage. While many gold coins were produced during the reign of the Roman empire, the coins that circulated during the birth of Jesus was the Roman gold Aureus, which was produced from the first century BC to the beginning of the 4th century.
During this time span, however, there were many Roman rulers. As we often see with coinage, a design is changed to depict the current ruler at power. From 50BCE to 305CE, there were 12 gold Roman Aureus designs that regularly circulated. However, only three were produced before the birth of Christ: the Nero Aureus (60BCE), the Caesar Aureus (50BCE), and the Augustus Aureus (23BCE). Augustus ruled from 27 BCE to 14CE, and his coinage was the most plentiful of the three rulers. With these factors in mind, it is likely that if the gold came in the form of Roman coinage, it was likely the Augustus Gold Aureus that was gifted to Jesus.
Another theory centers not around the location of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem, but instead from the “East” where the wise men were said to come from. Although the “East” is vague terminology, it is accepted that the wise men came from the Parthian Empire, which stretched from Syria to India and was centered in Persia.
The problem with this theory, however, is that at the time of Jesus’ birth, there were no gold coins circulating that area. The most recently produced gold coin of the empire would have been the Daric, which would have last been produced hundreds of years before the birth of Jesus. Although Darics are mentioned in the Old Testament, it is an unlikely candidate for the gold coins gifted to Jesus. This would mean that if the wise men brought gold from their homeland, it was likely not in the form of coinage, but instead in the raw form.
A final theory is that the coins gifted were not gold at all, as there were no gold coins circulating Bethlehem at the time. Instead, the coins could have been a variety of silver coinage. Most likely these coins would either be silver shekels or tyres, which were commonly used in Bethlehem. As the bible states that gold was gifted, it is unlikely that this is the case, but it’s an interesting thought when trying to determine any numismatic items that could have been presented.
The tale of the wisemen remains one of the most significant to ever be told, and the numismatic tie in is just the star on top of the tree. Whether Jesus was gifted an Aureus, raw gold, or silver coinage, the ability to make connections between this bible verse and our hobby is a fascinating exercise of thought. Rare Collectibles TV often offers a selection of Ancient coinage, such as Roman tetradrachms.
