Presenter view · Grades 5–8 · Social Studies · Coins as primary sources
Who Ruled Judaea?
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Before you start
Learning objectives
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
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.
Materials
- The Who ruled when chart on page 3, projected or printed
- Luke 23:6–12 and Acts 25:10–12, in Bibles or projected; the Gospel Timeline on a screen if you have one
- Differentiated handouts, one per student
On the classroom screen
Up next
A face, and no face 5 min
Show the Tribute Penny beside Pilate’s prutah. Both were in people’s hands in Judaea in Jesus’ lifetime. “One shows a man’s face. The other shows a ladle and three ears of grain. Who made each one — and why would they choose such different pictures?” Take guesses, then: “Coins are messages from the people in charge. Today we use them to find out who was in charge.”