Israel Museum

While a first-century C.E. coin minted at Sepphoris shows evidence of respect for Jewish sensibilities (see photograph), the coin shown here, minted at Sepphoris during the reign of Antoninus Pius (138–161 C.E.), has all the characteristics of a pagan design. Not only does it bear the emperor’s image, but the goddess Tyche is also depicted standing in a temple on the reverse side of the coin. Moreover, this later coin reveals a new Roman name for Sepphoris—Diocaesarea. By the mid-second century C.E., such signs of Greco-Roman influence were on the rise in Sepphoris. But as Chancey and Meyers point out, scholars should be careful about using this late evidence to prove anything about the city in the time of Jesus.