Ancient Coins Were Historically Considered Ancient Forms of Portable Art
According to [1] www.britannica.com. down through history that the Greek and Roman issue of minted coins in their day contributed to those of wealth considered coins to be of artistic value and made specialized efforts to consider them of such. Especially when it came to important dates relating to kings, princes, and persons of royalty and/or of special importance. Even if such were persons of importance were considered to be a legend. The reference also states quote: "The Nestorian scholars and artisans who served the princes of the Jazira (Mesopotamia, now Iraq, Syria, and Turkey) in the 12th and 13th centuries designed a magnificent series of coins with motifs based on ancient Greek and Roman issues. Some of these so accurately render the details of the originals that even the inscriptions are faithfully repeated. Others were modified in intriguing ways. The great variety and the sophisticated use of these images reveal the existence of well-studied collections."Evidence from the archaeological and historical record of Ancient Rome and medieval Mesopotamia are evidence of this, that coinage was considered as:"Portable collectable art".
[2] In the scientific paper entitled: "The Origins of Coinage; The earliest coin hoard". The British Museum:Explore/Money, www.britishmuseum.org, helps the reader to understand:" that some of the earliest forms of portable art" were collected and catalogued by scholars and state treasuries in Greece and Rome in like manner. It also seems probable that individual citizens collected old, exotic or commemorative coins as an affordable, portable form of art.
[3] Britannica Online; Britannica.com shows that according to Suetonius-(69-122-AD/CE) was both a Roman writer and historian, in his De vita Caesarum (The Lives of the Twelve Caesars), written in the first century CE, he records that the emperor Augustus Caesar sometimes presented old and exotic coins to friends and courtiers during festivals and other special occasions and that he himself collected coins as portable art as well. Down through the centuries this tradition continued throughout the old world contemporary coin collecting was an appreciated art form until the fourteenth century. During this Renaissance period it was sort of a mid-evil fad or sorts of the privileged classes to collect and present coins as a accepted form of portable art in like manner. Eventually as time continued other members of royalty in other European countries followed this aficionado. Many European kings, princes, and other nobility kept collections of ancient coins. Some notable collectors were Pope Boniface VIII, and Louis XIV of France. So, down from the early Grecian Empire to today coins have been considered as a portable form of art.
So, it is as well with the coin seen in the upper top left corner of this web-page. This is one side of the coin in which these web-page is about. It is believed by the owner of this coin, that the pictorial images on this coin more closely relate to the story of Jesus Christ as explained and depicted in the pages of The New Testament part of The Bible. These pictorial scenes relating to the story of Christ are depicted on this coin in intertwined combination pictographic images within the full 360 degree circumferences of this coin. As the coin is turned and viewed from different angles around its 360 degree circumference these scenes tell the story of Christ. Much like pictures in a story book form would do in a child's picture book of Little Red Riding Hood for instance. To illustrate, in a the child's picture storybook of:" Little red Riding Hood" what would a parent and /or grandparent of a child reading this story to them expect to see in picture story book of Little Red Riding Hood?
A persons reading this story to their child/ grandchild-etc. would expect to see pictorial images in the story book that would relate and identify that the pictorial images seen could only apply to the story of Little Red Riding Hood. How?
A person would expect images of a little girl, with a basket, wearing a red riding hood, would be standing in the middle of the woods on the steps of a quaint little cottageSuch like images we know applies to only one story, and that is only applicable to the story of:"Little red Riding Hood".
This may only be a simple illustration, however at the same time it is also a powerful one to get the point across when it comes to this coin and it depicting many pictorial images in relation only to the story of Christ, and it being a portable work of art.
In like manner, the pictorial scenes on this coin only shows picture writing scene/images only relating to the story of Christ. if such a scene happened once or twice it could be coincidence. However, once such scenes would show themselves on the coin that would only relate to the story of Christ three or more times a repetitious pattern emerges. The more it repeats itself showing pictorial images on the coin that would only relate to the story of Christ, the greater the accumulative evidence grows, providing stronger and stronger imaging and other evidence that such must be the case with this coin. That instead of it being classified on a continuing basis in numismatics belonging as previously thought to a coin category of the last Hasmonean Judean King in 37-BCE pertaining to King Mattathias Antigonius, that rather a new category needs to not only be created for this coin. In the fact that it fits more into a category as an:"Ancient Form of Portable Art" and should be re-categorized as:"Ancient Portable Art" instead of being categorized as a coin only applicable to numismatics. Therefore this coin could be the first of many near future coins that are re-discovered as a lost ancient form of art that the world has almost entirely forgot about. That is, until the author of this web-page has made the data and pictorial images on this coin now known. Therefore, this coin current should also be categorized as a very unique singularity as a coin depicting scenes in portable artistic form of the story of Christ with remarkable accuracy in consistency with the story of Christ as described in The Bible as well.
The Original Coin/ Numismatic Assessment and Why It Is Incorrect
The original assessment of the coin as seen in the upper top left corner of this webpage when it comes to categorizing it as a numismatic coin is attributed as a Jewish coin applicable to Judeas' last King known as: "Mattathius Antigonius" who was the last Hasmonean King of Judea until his execution by Marc Antony in about 37-BC. While it's understandable as to why this coin could be attributed as a coin belonging historically to this King, the reason for this is because there are a few similarities between the story of Mattathias Antigonius as Judeas' last King in historical facts when comparing it to the Biblical story of Jesus Christ.
However, just because there are a few similarities between the stories of Mattathias Antigonius as Judeas' last Jewish Ruling King before Judea was overtaken by the Romans in about 40-30-BC, does this mean that this coin should be permanently considered to be in numismatics belonging to this King? Or is it otherwise probable that this coin may have been incorrectly identified and categorized belong to the category of coins belonging to Mattathias Antigonius instead of being put into a special category as artistic portable art?
However, there are two very important questions that need to be asked which are:
1). If this truly a coin that belong to the group of coins of Mattathias Antigonius, than all of the pictographs/ pictorial images on this coin should only relate to the reign of Mattathias Antigonius and would not show any pictorial scenes only applicable to the story of Christ.
2). On the other hand if this coin shows most if not all of it pictorial scenes that relate to the story of Jesus Christ that would have happened over 100 years after Mattathias Antigonius lived as the last Jewish king of Judea, then this would be very strong imaging evidence that this coin must be a extreme rarity and to start with is a singularity, and should be a category and classification all by itself. However, specifically as a :"Extremely rare Unique Form of Portable Art".
3). In the event there are other coins similar to this one that would also show similar scenes that could only be applicable to the story of Christ, than this would also mean that there could be a hoard of similar like coins that would create a new category of coins that even more so would give a continuing growing accumulation that all such like coins do not belong to the numismatic category of Mattathius Antigonius, but to a specialized group of coin extremely unique like none other in the world today.
Supposed Similarities Between The Story of Mattathius Antigonius and The Story of Jesus Christ
[2] In the scientific paper entitled: "The Origins of Coinage; The earliest coin hoard". The British Museum:Explore/Money, www.britishmuseum.org, helps the reader to understand:" that some of the earliest forms of portable art" were collected and catalogued by scholars and state treasuries in Greece and Rome in like manner. It also seems probable that individual citizens collected old, exotic or commemorative coins as an affordable, portable form of art.
[3] Britannica Online; Britannica.com shows that according to Suetonius-(69-122-AD/CE) was both a Roman writer and historian, in his De vita Caesarum (The Lives of the Twelve Caesars), written in the first century CE, he records that the emperor Augustus Caesar sometimes presented old and exotic coins to friends and courtiers during festivals and other special occasions and that he himself collected coins as portable art as well. Down through the centuries this tradition continued throughout the old world contemporary coin collecting was an appreciated art form until the fourteenth century. During this Renaissance period it was sort of a mid-evil fad or sorts of the privileged classes to collect and present coins as a accepted form of portable art in like manner. Eventually as time continued other members of royalty in other European countries followed this aficionado. Many European kings, princes, and other nobility kept collections of ancient coins. Some notable collectors were Pope Boniface VIII, and Louis XIV of France. So, down from the early Grecian Empire to today coins have been considered as a portable form of art.
So, it is as well with the coin seen in the upper top left corner of this web-page. This is one side of the coin in which these web-page is about. It is believed by the owner of this coin, that the pictorial images on this coin more closely relate to the story of Jesus Christ as explained and depicted in the pages of The New Testament part of The Bible. These pictorial scenes relating to the story of Christ are depicted on this coin in intertwined combination pictographic images within the full 360 degree circumferences of this coin. As the coin is turned and viewed from different angles around its 360 degree circumference these scenes tell the story of Christ. Much like pictures in a story book form would do in a child's picture book of Little Red Riding Hood for instance. To illustrate, in a the child's picture storybook of:" Little red Riding Hood" what would a parent and /or grandparent of a child reading this story to them expect to see in picture story book of Little Red Riding Hood?
A persons reading this story to their child/ grandchild-etc. would expect to see pictorial images in the story book that would relate and identify that the pictorial images seen could only apply to the story of Little Red Riding Hood. How?
A person would expect images of a little girl, with a basket, wearing a red riding hood, would be standing in the middle of the woods on the steps of a quaint little cottageSuch like images we know applies to only one story, and that is only applicable to the story of:"Little red Riding Hood".
This may only be a simple illustration, however at the same time it is also a powerful one to get the point across when it comes to this coin and it depicting many pictorial images in relation only to the story of Christ, and it being a portable work of art.
In like manner, the pictorial scenes on this coin only shows picture writing scene/images only relating to the story of Christ. if such a scene happened once or twice it could be coincidence. However, once such scenes would show themselves on the coin that would only relate to the story of Christ three or more times a repetitious pattern emerges. The more it repeats itself showing pictorial images on the coin that would only relate to the story of Christ, the greater the accumulative evidence grows, providing stronger and stronger imaging and other evidence that such must be the case with this coin. That instead of it being classified on a continuing basis in numismatics belonging as previously thought to a coin category of the last Hasmonean Judean King in 37-BCE pertaining to King Mattathias Antigonius, that rather a new category needs to not only be created for this coin. In the fact that it fits more into a category as an:"Ancient Form of Portable Art" and should be re-categorized as:"Ancient Portable Art" instead of being categorized as a coin only applicable to numismatics. Therefore this coin could be the first of many near future coins that are re-discovered as a lost ancient form of art that the world has almost entirely forgot about. That is, until the author of this web-page has made the data and pictorial images on this coin now known. Therefore, this coin current should also be categorized as a very unique singularity as a coin depicting scenes in portable artistic form of the story of Christ with remarkable accuracy in consistency with the story of Christ as described in The Bible as well.
The Original Coin/ Numismatic Assessment and Why It Is Incorrect
The original assessment of the coin as seen in the upper top left corner of this webpage when it comes to categorizing it as a numismatic coin is attributed as a Jewish coin applicable to Judeas' last King known as: "Mattathius Antigonius" who was the last Hasmonean King of Judea until his execution by Marc Antony in about 37-BC. While it's understandable as to why this coin could be attributed as a coin belonging historically to this King, the reason for this is because there are a few similarities between the story of Mattathias Antigonius as Judeas' last King in historical facts when comparing it to the Biblical story of Jesus Christ.
However, just because there are a few similarities between the stories of Mattathias Antigonius as Judeas' last Jewish Ruling King before Judea was overtaken by the Romans in about 40-30-BC, does this mean that this coin should be permanently considered to be in numismatics belonging to this King? Or is it otherwise probable that this coin may have been incorrectly identified and categorized belong to the category of coins belonging to Mattathias Antigonius instead of being put into a special category as artistic portable art?
However, there are two very important questions that need to be asked which are:
1). If this truly a coin that belong to the group of coins of Mattathias Antigonius, than all of the pictographs/ pictorial images on this coin should only relate to the reign of Mattathias Antigonius and would not show any pictorial scenes only applicable to the story of Christ.
2). On the other hand if this coin shows most if not all of it pictorial scenes that relate to the story of Jesus Christ that would have happened over 100 years after Mattathias Antigonius lived as the last Jewish king of Judea, then this would be very strong imaging evidence that this coin must be a extreme rarity and to start with is a singularity, and should be a category and classification all by itself. However, specifically as a :"Extremely rare Unique Form of Portable Art".
3). In the event there are other coins similar to this one that would also show similar scenes that could only be applicable to the story of Christ, than this would also mean that there could be a hoard of similar like coins that would create a new category of coins that even more so would give a continuing growing accumulation that all such like coins do not belong to the numismatic category of Mattathius Antigonius, but to a specialized group of coin extremely unique like none other in the world today.
Supposed Similarities Between The Story of Mattathius Antigonius and The Story of Jesus Christ
[4] In Figure 2 in he above image is a reproduction of the front face of Mattathias Antigonius as appearing from a Jewish coin likeness of 57-BCE. Antigonus II Mattathias was the son of King Aristobulus II of Judea. The reproduction in the image above was by Guillaume Rouille (1518-1589) who copied and reproduced the image from a coin as aforementioned from 57-BCE. The whole point is that when comparing the images of Mattathias Antigonius on a number of coins they do not match other images of a man with a beard and is even dressed in the time period as we would see people who lived in Jerusalem and Judea in the first century compared to the type of clothes that were worn by Judeans in 37-BCE when Mattathias Antigonius was executed by the famed Marc Antony of Rome who was also in loved with Cleopatra of Egypt.
Figure 3- When a similar image from the coin from the first century CE is shown with a man wearing more of the headdress of the way Judean Rabbis were dressed in the first century in what we see in the image above. When compared to the image of Mattathias Antigonius in Figure 2 above, the image looks nothing like the image of Mattathias Antigonius.
Figure 4- Unlike the image as seen in Figure 2 of Mattathias Antigonius, in figure 4 is an image that appears numerous times on the coin being studied on this web-page as a potential portable form of ancient art, pertaining to the story of Christ.
Several Similarities Between The Historical facts of Mattathias Antigonius and That of The Story of Christ
[5-15] The Jewish Encyclopedia Josephus, Ant. xiv. 14 (see also index); idem, B. J. i. 14; Ewald, History of Israel, v. 402-411; Grätz, Gesch. d. Juden, ii. 160; Hitzig, Gesch. des Volkes Israel, ii. 523; Schürer, Gesch. i. 288 and index; Stade, Gesch. des Volkes Israel, ii. 467; Mommsen, The Provinces of the Roman Empire, ii. 175-178; Madden, Coins of the Jews, p. 99. For other literature, see Schürer, Gesch. p. 288.), all verify and support each other as bibliographical references that the history and the life of Mattathias Antigonius had similarities to the story of Christ in these facts:
1). Mattathias Antigonius ruled as a King of Judea for three years. In the story of Christ in like manner Christ preached about the kingdom of God for three years and when executed a sign was hung above Christ's head stating that he was:"King of The Jews".
2). Mattathius Antigonius was declared to be a King and Priest, and in like manner Christ was said to be a King and Priest as well.
3). Mattathias Antigonius revolted and was considered a seditionist against Rome. Again, in like manner Christ was accused of sedition against Rome. However, unlike King Antigonius according to the story of Christ the message he preached was a peaceful one.
4). According to [16-18] (both Jewish and Roman Historian and hagiographer (Titus Flavius Josephus -(37-102)-AD/CE in his book entitled:"Josephus' Antiquities XIV 16:2." , and according to Lucius-(or Claudius)-(in English) -(Cassius Dio-(150-235-AD/ CE)\, who was a Roman historian and in his texts entitled: "Cassius Dio Cocceianus, Roman History, book xlix, c.22, and the historian named: "Lucius Mestrius Plutarchus" -(42-120-AD/ CE) also lived during the first century Christian era. In his writings entitled: "Plutarch, Life of Antony" gives different accounts as to how King Antigonius was treated when captured and how he was executed.
5). Although it is possible that King Antigonius could have been scouraged like Christ, there are several imprtant historcial and other facts that give several forms consistent evidence from historical sources, that shows King Antigonius was beheaded and not executed supposedly upon a cross. How?
The Jewish and Roman Historian Josephus states that Marc Antony beheaded Antigonus (Antiquities, XV 1:2 (8-9). Whereas the Roman historian Dio Cassius says he was crucified. Cassius Dio's Roman History records: "These people [the Jews] Antony entrusted to a certain Herod to govern; but Antigonus he bound to a cross and scourged, a punishment no other king had suffered at the hands of the Romans, and so slew him." Unquote. In some similarities Christ was also scouraged like Antigonius was supposed to have been. Whereas [16] Josephus agrees with [17] Plutarch that in actuality Antony had Antigonus beheaded, "the first example of that punishment being inflicted on a king." Unquote. Which also agrees with [5] The Jewish Encyclopedia. Which also reads quote:
"Antigonus behaved most manfully during the siege, but after the final assault, when no hope was left, he fell entreating at the feet of the Roman General Sosius, who brutally mocked his grief by dubbing him "Antigone," after Sophocles' tearful heroine. At the suggestion of Herod, who was afraid to allow Antigonus to be taken to Rome in the triumphal train of Mark Antony, lest he should there successfully plead for his rights, this last king of the Hasmonean house was taken to Antioch, and there fell beneath the executioner's ax. It was the first time that the Romans had ever thus put a king to death. The last king of pure Jewish blood fell before the intrigues of the first king of Judea not entirely of Jewish birth" . Unquote.
6). Again according to the interceding of King Herod at that time here is another known historical fact that besides Marc Antony, King Herod also did not want King Antigonius to go to Rome to take advanatge of pleading his case before Rome where King Antigonius could be freed. Because King Herod (like Marc Antony) was also concerned that if King Antigonius was successful in attaining his freedom, that it could upset King Herod's plans to make further progress in his rule of Judea. King Herod was not about to share his Kingship of Judea with anyone.
7). All of these accounts agree. The additional fact that has Mattathias Antigonius had not been taken to Rome and instead to Antioch adds further evidence that he was beheaded. How? Because Mattathias Antigonius was a King. There is no historical record or otherwise to even suggest that King Antigonius was ever taken to Rome where he could have pleaded his case for freedom. Therefore, this ads to the stated known historical evidence that King Antigonius was taken to Antioch and executed there by beheading.
8). In addition to this, Mark Antony had a personal and military record to vanquish his enemies and not give them a second chance for Marc Antony had a prestigious reputation to uphold in Rome as well. If King Antigonius was successful in his attempt to plead his case before Rome and if freed and in the event King Antigonius returned to Judea, he could then make a possible attempt to raise another Judean Army and cause insurrection and once again free Judea from Roman rule.
Therefore, evidently Marc Antony was much smarter than this and knew that this was a probability if he took King Antigonius to Rome. If it backfired on Marc Antony, and if he had decided to take King Antigonius to Rome, he would not only be blamed for another insurrection in Judea against Roman rule, but he could also loose his military/ political reputation and rights as a Roman citizen as well. So, it makes sense and is logically reasonable that there were a number of reasons for Marc Antony not to take King Antigonius to Rome, but to Antioch instead. Furthermore, although history does not record this, but there also could have been discussions between King Herod and Marc Antony where they made a pact and agreed it was in both of their best interests not to let King Antigonius be taken to Rome.
9). King Antigonius was executed in Antioch and not in Jerusalem like Christ was, (according to the story of Christ) in The Bible. Therefore, this does not have any similarities to the story of Christ as well.
10). Although there only a few similarities in the known historical facts pertaining to King Mattathias Antigonius and Christ, the story of Christ has many, many, more parts to the story. The story of Christ has many, many, more aspects to this story than what happened to King Antigonius. The story of Christ involves very many different and diverse aspects, where it involves the interactions between many people pertaining to the masses of Judea and with persons on an individual basis as well. The sheer numbers of interactions and for them to be seen in pictorial images and to be consistent, not only pertaining to the life of Jesus Christ, but also to the issues around the story of Christ in like manner. In addition to this not including the many diverse interactions with the masses of people in Judea and on an individaul basis involving his miracles, his last moments with his Apostles, disciples, his betrayal, torture before and after his trial, all of the complex details of his execution, and his entombment and resurrection involve hundreds if not a few thousand more detail when compared to the historical facts known about Judean King Mattathias Antigonius.
It Is Understandable Why This Coin Was Placed Into The Numismatics Category of King Antigonius 57-37-BCE
Therefore, it is understandable that (before this web-page was created and this information was made known), that because there are a few similarities between the historical events of King Mattathias Antigonius and to the story of Christ, that as far as numismatics is concerned, that based only upon this sort of data, that the only category that numismatics could have placed this coin would be in relation to the few historical events known about King Mattathias Antigonius.
However, now that this information has been made known-(in which there are many more coins and images on those coins that relate to the story of Christ), although the data and image show so far on this webpage do not represent all of the pictorial images that could be attained and supplied in much larger quantities (and will be done so in time), by the data presented on this web-page and in other scientific papers being written on this subject that will be published, the accumulative evidence both now and especially into the future will overwhelmingly show that this coin, and other coins like it should be put into a special numismatic and /or (coin category) all by itself. That instead of being classified as a numismatic coin, it should be rather considered a coin and eventual hoard of coins that should be put under a new artistic classification as an :"Ancient Portable Form of Art".
Furthermore, from 57-BCE and even into the first century AD/CE-(although a difference of over 100 years from the time of King Mattthias Antigonius to the time period of the story of Christ), [19] At the Jewish Virtual Libray.org show that as early as the bulk of the coins of being hand struck and minted of John Hyrcanus II (67, 63–40 B.C.E.) are in the same type of minting conditions in how coins were minted from about 67-BCE all the way through the first century involving the early years of Christianity and pertaining to the story of Christ all the way through up until and through the Roman Emperor reign of under Domitian (81–96 C.E.) That only after 96-CE did the hand struck minting of four series of coins were issued made only a very "very small change", in how they were hand struck and minted. This only applied to four series of Roman coins after 96-AD/ CE. Where copper coinage was minted locally in a number of cities under Roman rule at that time in history.
Therefore, the hand struck minting of the coins was the same and had not changed at all from the time King Antigonius last ruled Judea in 37-BCE up until Roman Emperor Domitian ruled during about -(81-96-AD/CE). Therefore the imaging evidence of the following scenes from the story of Christ offers a very large amount of new data and evidence showing pictorial images in great quantity, that not only have to do with the story of the life of Christ, but also Christ's miracles, his arrest, trial, death, and entombment as well. Which is shown further in the following images.
(Possibly)-The Earliest Artistic Coin Pictograph Depictions of The Story of Christ
Important Note-These images are strictly copyrighted and may not be used without written permission from Ronald Stewart-(2013). All Rights Reserved).
In Figure 5 the combination of images to the (left) there is an area that is shown what may be a first century AD/CE coin. Under (1) may a depiction of the profile of a blind man being healed under (2) which may be a depiction of Christ with his right hand on the blind man's head as he heals him. Which is shown in an enlarged projection in the image to the right.
Below are other depictions from the same area on this coin that would strongly suggest that that this coin relates in these pictographic-(picture writing) scenes to the Biblical story of jesus Christ, possibly rather minted sometime between 37-47-AD/CE. However, this coin previously had had been identified to a earlier time period dating back to about 40-BC. More than 100 years before the story of Christ was supposed to have been told. Therefore, as more and more imaging evidence will present and demonstrate, this coin most likely has been misidentified to this earlier time period of 40-BC when in actuality it relates to a time period telling the story of Christ almost 100 years later. However we'll first review some of the oldest coins known to exist today with images of Christ on them, and then we'll continue to show more of the coin that like tells the story of Christ in artistic form.
The earliest known images of Christ (not on coins) date back from about from a early as 240-AD. Some of this data may be found at at the following URLs -
http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1024&bih=599&tbm=isch&tbnid=0SJs7QCvj0wzLM:&imgrefurl=http://observer.com/2011/09/earliest-known-images-of-christ-on-display-at-nyu/&docid=FGz1pjw4ICj82M&imgurl=http://nyoobserver.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/ceiling-tile-with-female-face.jpg&w=2000&h=1457&ei=vIlUUfSvGJT82gXAkYC4Aw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:23,s:0,i:164&iact=rc&dur=997&page=2&tbnh=191&tbnw=263&&ndsp=12&tx=135&ty=156
http://observer.com/2011/09/earliest-known-images-of-christ-on-display-at-nyu/
http://www.rejesus.co.uk/site/module/faces_of_jesus/P11
http://www.numisology.com/Early_Christian_coins.htm
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?vpar=1023
Below are other depictions from the same area on this coin that would strongly suggest that that this coin relates in these pictographic-(picture writing) scenes to the Biblical story of jesus Christ, possibly rather minted sometime between 37-47-AD/CE. However, this coin previously had had been identified to a earlier time period dating back to about 40-BC. More than 100 years before the story of Christ was supposed to have been told. Therefore, as more and more imaging evidence will present and demonstrate, this coin most likely has been misidentified to this earlier time period of 40-BC when in actuality it relates to a time period telling the story of Christ almost 100 years later. However we'll first review some of the oldest coins known to exist today with images of Christ on them, and then we'll continue to show more of the coin that like tells the story of Christ in artistic form.
The earliest known images of Christ (not on coins) date back from about from a early as 240-AD. Some of this data may be found at at the following URLs -
http://www.google.com/imgres?hl=en&biw=1024&bih=599&tbm=isch&tbnid=0SJs7QCvj0wzLM:&imgrefurl=http://observer.com/2011/09/earliest-known-images-of-christ-on-display-at-nyu/&docid=FGz1pjw4ICj82M&imgurl=http://nyoobserver.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/ceiling-tile-with-female-face.jpg&w=2000&h=1457&ei=vIlUUfSvGJT82gXAkYC4Aw&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:23,s:0,i:164&iact=rc&dur=997&page=2&tbnh=191&tbnw=263&&ndsp=12&tx=135&ty=156
http://observer.com/2011/09/earliest-known-images-of-christ-on-display-at-nyu/
http://www.rejesus.co.uk/site/module/faces_of_jesus/P11
http://www.numisology.com/Early_Christian_coins.htm
http://www.forumancientcoins.com/catalog/roman-and-greek-coins.asp?vpar=1023