MIn Their HandsWho Ruled Judaea?
Lesson · Grades 5–8 · Social Studies · Coins as primary sources
Who Ruled Judaea?
Why this matters
No single person ruled Judaea in Jesus’ lifetime. Coins show us who held power, and checking one source against another is how historians decide what to trust.
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By the end of this lesson you will be able to:
- read a coin as a primary source: who made it, for whom, and what its design reveals
- name the four kinds of ruler in New Testament Judaea, and say who answered to whom
- use the trials of Jesus and Paul to show how power was layered
- Go deepercorroborate a coin with independent evidence, and judge what coins cannot prove
Vasily Surikov (1848–1916)