Alexander III and the High Priest of Israel

CNG 84, Lot: 1740. Estimate $500. Sold for $1800. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

ITALY, Papal Coinage. Paul III. 1534-1549. PB Cast Medal (52mm, 93.95 g, 6h). Commemorating the Council of Trent. Dated RY 12 (13 October 1545-12 October 1546). Bareheaded bust left, wearing ornate mantum joined by morse; RY in legend / OMNES REGES SERVIENT EI (All the kings shall be his servants, Daniel 7:27), Alexander the Great meets with the High Priest of Israel (Jos. Ant. 11.8.4-6): High Priest (Yadua), accompanied by three attendants, standing right, holding garments at waist and extending hand over Alexander, in military outfit, placing hand over breast and holding shield; behind, Parmenion standing right, holding horse; large domed temple in background. CNORP II, 313 var. (version in silver); Toderi-Vannel 2052; Börner 456; Johnson-Martini 1893; Bargello 524; Armand I, 171, 4. VF, some scratches.

From the Tuck Pittman Collection.

The scene of this medal’s reverse, commemorating the opening of the Council of Trent, refers to an apocryphal event related by Josephus (AJ 11.317-345). While besieging Tyre, Alexander sought the assistance of Yadua, the High Priest of Israel by supplying troops to help in the Macedonians’ war against Darius. Yadua replied that he had already sworn an oath to Darius that he would not take up arms against him and could not break it as long as the Persian king was alive. This response angered Alexander, who pressed on with his siege, now assisted by the Achaemenid governor of Samaria, Sanballat III, who had no qualm about breaking his oath with Darius and who used Alexander’s dissatisfaction with Yadua to gain the king’s assurance that the division of Judaea between the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah – in force since the time of the Assyrians – would remain in force, and a separate temple would be constructed at Shechem. Once Alexander had taken Tyre (and Gaza shortly thereafter), he decided to visit Jerusalem. Fearing the repercussions of his refusal to assist the Macedonian king, Yadua ordered that the city make sacrifices and ask God to deliver the city and its people. During the night, God warned the High Priest in a dream to not be afraid, but to adorn himself and his attendants in their regalia, open the gates, and await the arrival of the king. When Alexander did arrive within the environs of the city the following day and, seeing the High Priest adorned in all his regalia and holding a golden plate engraved with the name of God on it, the king, accompanied only by Parmenion, approached the High Priest. Upon paying his respects to Yadua, Alexander was hailed by the populace, to the amazement of the others present, as well as Parmenion, who asked Alexander why he had done that. Alexander replied that he had seen the High Priest, dressed in that regalia, in a dream he had had in Macedonian Dion prior to the expedition. Now, seeing that event come to pass, he was convinced that his mission was under divine protection and that the Macedonians would destroy the Persian power. Once he had informed Parmenion of this, Alexander was led away by the High Priest and his attendants to the Temple, where he sacrificed and was shown the Book of Daniel, wherein it had been declared that one of the Greeks would destroy the empire of the Persians.

Beginning in mid-December 1545 and continuing until late-December 1563, the Council of Trent was one of the Church’s most important councils. Its purpose was two-fold: first to counteract what it saw as the heresies of the Protestant Reformation and define Church teachings on fundamental aspects of theology. By its decrees, it also attempted to influence the European political situation by compelling those rulers who had sided with the Protestants to return to the Catholic fold. Thus, the imagery of the great pagan conquerer’s acknowledgment of the High Priest of Israel’s position and the power of God in connection with a fundamental division of God’s people (an allusion to the Protestant Reformation) would dovetail neatly into the Papacy’s own attempt to re-establish its acknowledged religious primacy.