Double cornucopiae; pomegranate between horns // Paleohebrew inscription in wreath Yehonatan hacohen hagadol haver hayehudim (“Yehonatan the High Priest (and) the Council of the Jews”). 14mm, 1.41 grams. Mint of Jerusalem (?). Hendin 474-475. SKU X299-48197

Overstruck on the "anchor/lilly" prutah which gave Alexander the title of a "King" in both Greek and Hebrew (Hendin 467/Sear 6086)

The existence of coins of Alexander overstruck on his own older issues (which show almost no wear), is most interesting. It is a remnant of the conflict of the King with the Pharisee Jewish social movement - unlike his predecessors who asserted themselves on coins to be “High Priest” and ethnarchs, Alexander Jannaeus proclaimed himself to be both High Priest and King. The title “King” was not allowed for Judean rulers since the days of Zerubbabel in the sixth century BC. Yet on his early coins, it is clear that Alexander laid claim to both titles. After the Pharisees took serious issue with the arrogance of this Hasmonean ruler, he overstruck most of those coins with the dies with the double-cornucopea/inscriptions type which showed the more modest titles, like his predecessors: “ High Priest and (head of) the council of the Jews”. This act does not seem to have satisfied the Pharisees. After six years of civil war (93–87 BCE) between Alexander Jannaeus with the Sadducees against the Pharisees, he finally and severely asserted his position as King. 

Alexander Jannaeus (born Jehonatan) was the second king of the Hasmonean dynasty, who ruled over an expanding kingdom of Judea from 103 to 76 BCE. A son of John Hyrcanus, he inherited the throne from his brother Aristobulus I, and married his brother's widow, Queen Salome Alexandra. From his conquests to expand the kingdom to a bloody civil war, Alexander's reign has been generalized as cruel and oppressive with never-ending conflict. The major historical sources of Alexander's life are Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews and The Jewish War.