The International Numismata Orientalia

Abstract

THIS goodly quarto of nearly 350 pages, illustrated by 279 woodcuts, forms the second volume of the International Numismata Crientalia, which has been for some time in course of publication under, we believe, the chief editorship of Mr. Edward Thomas. The work now before us may be regarded as being virtually a second edition of Mr. Madden's “History of Jewish Coinage and of Money in the Old and New Testaments,” which was published in 1864; but in many respects the book has I been so much enlarged, and we venture to think improved, that it may almost take rank as a new work. Any summary of the strictly numismatic details of such a publication would be out of place in the pages of NATURE, but the public interest in all modern researches in the Holy Land, such as those carried on under the Palestine Exploration Fund, and the success that has attended the foundation of the Society of Biblical Archæology, prove the strong hold which, in this, and indeed in all Christian countries, the cradle of our religion retains. The International Numismata Orientalia. Vol. ii. Coins of the Jews. By Frederic W. Madden. (London: Trübner and Co., 1881.)