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The Christmas story makes it clear that money plays an important role in the New Testament.

Because the census of the emperor Augustus, which brings Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem, is mainly used for the tax assessment of Judea, which has become a Roman province.

So that the imperial tax authorities get an idea of ​​the income they can expect, the Commander-in-Chief of the Orient Army in Syria, to which the Prefect of Judea is subordinate, sets up this administrative act.

Another episode has to do with taxes.

The evangelist Mark reports that shortly before Jesus was arrested at the Passover festival in Jerusalem, some Pharisees came to Jesus, held out a silver penny and asked: “Is it right to pay taxes to the emperor or not?” Jesus is said to have answered with the famous sentence: "Give to the emperor what is of the emperor, and to God what is of God."

The sentence has developed a powerful history of impact.

How it should be interpreted from a historical point of view is described by Kay Ehling, chief curator of the State Mint Collection in Munich, in the magazine “Antike Welt”.

Then Jesus was set a trap.

The Pharisees, also known as scribes, stood for the strictly religious branch of ancient Judaism, which demanded absolute adherence to religious laws.

After that, believing Jews were forbidden to pay taxes to the Roman occupying power.

Because only Yahweh has the right to collect money from his people.

With an unequivocal answer, Jesus would have turned either against the strict believers or against the prefect of Rome, Pontius Pilate.

The episode with the interest penny was a popular motif - for Jacob Adriaensz Backer, for example, in the 1630s

Source: picture alliance / akg-images

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Matthew reports that Jesus was not a friend of the Treasury.

So Jesus resolutely protested against the payment of the "two groschen" which the temple in Jerusalem demanded from every Jew.

From this it was concluded that the quote handed down by Mark is a "post-Easter tradition", which arose from the knowledge that the great Jewish uprising against Roman rule broke out in AD 66.

"Give the emperor what the emperor is" - with this sentence Jesus could be placed at a critical distance from the Zealots and other radical groups who called the tax payment to Rome high treason and warred against anyone who advocated a compromise solution with the Romans .

While the legions were already besieging Jerusalem, a civil war raged in the city between the parties, to which the moderates fell victim.

Dispute over money had also fueled the uprising.

Because in order to be able to finance his exorbitant court rulings and building projects, the Roman Emperor Nero (r. 54–68) had a maximum of the provinces squeezed out.

In this sense, his governor Gessius Florus had made a coup on the Jerusalem temple treasure.

At first the revolt was successful.

But after the experienced General Vespasian (later Emperor) took over command of the Roman army, the tide turned.

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For the Christians it was now also a matter of finding a way to get along with the Roman authorities, while the Jews of Palestine had to bear the bloody consequences of the uprising.

Incidentally, this argumentation would be further evidence that the account of Mark as the oldest gospel was only written after the end of the Jewish War in AD 70.

The numismatist Ehling goes so far as to identify the coin with which the Pharisees wanted to lure Jesus.

The “silver groschen” was a denarius, the standard coin in the empire.

When Mark reports that Jesus wanted to see him, this implies that he wanted to recognize the imperial portrait, because he lacked knowledge of Latin to recognize the legend.

Theoretically, a portrait of Emperor Augustus could also have been embossed on it.

Ehling assumes, however, that it was a coinage from his successor Tiberius (r. 14–36).

Coins of this type were struck in large quantities in Lugdunum (Lyon), where precious metal minting was concentrated in the early imperial period.

On the reverse of these denarii bore the image of a seated female figure, probably the personified peace, and on the obverse a picture of the emperor.

The Latin transcription read: "Emperor Tiberius, son of the divine Augustus (and) high priest."

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