Hence the important fact is established, that the Jews continued to use the old Hebrew character, till within a century of our Saviour's birth.*

Josephus (Ant. iii. 8. 2.) says, that the Hebrew shekel was equal to the Attic tetradrachm; and Philo indirectly agrees with him but he has reckoned it too high; for, accord, ing to the accurate experiments of Barthelemy, (Eckhel, Proleg. cap. ix.) the greatest weight of a shekel is 2714 grains; the average of the Attic tetradrachms, 320 grains. Jerome has more accurately stated the value of the shekel at twenty oboli: as the Attic drachma contains six oboli, the shekel will be equal to 3 drachmas. Eckhel, iii. 464. The Attic drachma and Roman denarius were worth about seven pence. Besides the rod of Aaron, the Hebrew shekels exhibit a palm or vine branch, a view of the temple, a citron and a bundle of boughs, and two trumpets. (Num. x. 2.) It may be observed, that the coins with inscriptions in what is now called the Hebrew, or Chaldee character, are recent forgeries.

Page 316.-Of the discouragement of foreign commerce by Moses, (Jos. c. Ap. i.12.) see Michaelis, Mos. Law, § 39. He has, at the same time, shown how much the Jewish festivals tended to encourage internal commerce, § 198. The caravan of Mecca is always accompanied by a large body of merchants. Hasselquist, p. 82. What is said in the text of the dislike of the Greeks to commerce, must be restricted to the heroic times, or to nations which, like

Possibly much later; for in the rebellion of the Jews under Trajan, they placed their own Maccabæan stamp over the imperial coin; so that the two impressions are still visible, mixed together. These inscriptions are also in the Samaritan character. Eckhel,

iii. 472.

Sparta, retained the manners and notions of those times. Ionia, Corinth, Athens, and other Grecian states, were active in commercial pursuits.

END OF VOL. I.

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