Accession number
MG 034
Creator
Classical Greek
Date made
5th century AD (coin); Middle ages (frame)
Materials
Metal; Silver; (frame) Metal; Gold
Collection
Dimensions (cm)
Archival information
File of material relating to a decadrachm of Syracuse, one of the thirty pieces of silver. Includes photocopy of information card with photocopy of image of object (date unspecified). Notes that the name of the sculptor of the object is Euainetos and annotation gives inscription on mount as: 'Quia precium sanguinis est' (translation, 'This is the price of blood'); letter (27 May 1994) from Doctor Rachel Finnegan, Administrative Officer, Royal Ireland Academy, 19 Dawson Street, Dublin 2, to Mairead Dunlevy, Director, Hunt Museum, enclosing photocopy of letter (dated 27 May 1994) she received from Doctor Alan Johnston, Department of Classical Archaeology, University College London. Requests information about present object as he plans to publish it. Writes that the particular interest of the coin is the circa eleventh-century inscription; copy of letter (9 June 1994) from Dunlevy to Johnston confirming that object is in the Hunt Museum; reply (13 June 1994) thanking Dunlevy for her letter; letter (19 September 1975) from Hilary J. Kay, Picture Researcher, Elsevier International Projects Limited, Mayfield House, 256 Banbury road, Oxford, to John Hunt, Senior, Drumleck, Baily, county Dublin. Writer hopes that Hunt will grant them permission to publish coin in forthcoming work by Alan Johnston, 'The Emergence of Greece'; letter (18 May 2000) from Mrs R. McCarthy (address withheld) to Michael Holland, (former) Registrar, Hunt Museum,, requesting information on the coin; reply (18 May 2000) from Fiona Davern, Registrar, Hunt Museum. She dates coin to circa 405 B.C. and writes that the reason it is considered one of the thirty pieces of silver is because of the inscription on mount. Also, that it is unlikely it was actually one of the original silver coins given to Judas; photocopy of letter (9 July 1998) from Helen Lucy Burke (address withheld) to Holland. Writes that when she met him a few weeks ago she mentioned that present object is similar to one mentioned by Oliver St John Gogarty in a poem he addressed to a woman. Burke encloses text of poem as she remembers it; incomplete photocopy of Chapter 27 from the Gospel of Saint Matthew which details how Judas threw down the thirty pieces of silver given to him for his betrayal of Jesus and how they were later buried in 'The Field of Blood' (date unspecified); photocopy of extract from 'Illustrated Handbook' (Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 1964) which contains image and description of similar object; photocopy of description by another museum (unspecified) of a similar decadrachm in its collection (date unspecified); two photocopies of paper by G.F. Hill entitled 'The Thirty Pieces of Silver' (read on 8 December 1904) and published in 'Archaeologia: or Miscellaneous Tracts relating to Antiquity' (Society of Antiquaries of London, volume LIX, 1905); letter (13 October 1982) from Neil Stratford, Keeper of Medieval and Later Antiquities, British Museum, to 'Putzel' (Gertrude Hunt), Drumleck, Baily, county Dublin, enclosing copy of the paper by Hill (not attached) which suggests that there is a reference to Hunts coin on page 250, number 16. With reference to the paper, Hill writes of this object: 'The specimen, which has since unfortunately disappeared, and of which the provenance was never known, was framed in a gold mount.' In footnote, Hill writes that this object was described by Rollin and Feuardent in 1864 as number 1769 where it is wrongly called an octodrachm; letter in French (5 October 1953) from Jean Babelon, Head Conservator of Cabinet des Medailles, Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, to John Hunt, Senior, Lough Gur, Kilmallock, county Limerick. Transcribes information given about a decadrachm in publication by Rollin and Feuardent entitled 'Catalogue d'une collection de medailles des rois et villes de l'ancienne Grece' (c. 1862). It is number 1769 in this publication which interests Hunt. He cannot give more information about the object; handwritten notes (date unspecified) which describe coin and attached to which is typescript copy of Hills comments about present object; photocopy of extract from unidentified publication (date unspecified) which contains image of present object. Caption notes that it was found by John Hunt, Senior, 'in a mixed basket of items'; black and white photograph of one side of the coin, with chariot, and photocopy of same (date unspecified); photocopy of extract from '50 Treasures from the Hunt Collection' (Limerick: Hunt Museum Executive, 1993) by Patrick Doran in which the coin is described; also, typescript notes of Dorans published description of the coin (date unspecified); circular piece of card (date unspecified) on which is written various information, for instance, 'Sicily', 'Syracuse,' 'B.C. 413 Dekadrachm by Euanetos [sic],' amount of £175, 'Gallatin F.IX/R.XIV,' various measures of weight in kilograms and 'Rev [dic] 366 - same sale'. Information may have been recorded on this piece of card at more than one time and by more than one person due to differences in ink and possible differences in handwriting; extract from publication named 'The Museum of Fine Arts' (date unspecified) which contains images and description of a tetradrachm issued in Syracuse after 413 B.C; photocopy of extract from unidentified publication in French (date unspecified) which comprises brief descriptions of coins issued in various places, including Syracuse; photocopy of extract from 'Israel in Antiquity: from David to Herod' (The Jewish Museum, New York, 1982) by Andrew S. Ackerman and Susan L. Bernstein. Contains image and description of a shekel.
Category
Place of collection
Copyright Attribution
Dekadrachm of Syracuse | One of the thirty pieces of silver | Metal,Silver, (frame) Metal,Gold | 5th century AD (coin); Middle ages (frame) | The Hunt Collection | PD
