Judas’s Other Pieces of Silver: The Biblical Denarius and the Art of Translation

Abstract

When one thinks of the biblical Judas, one description comes to mind: the traitor who sells his Lord for 30 pieces of silver. The gospel writers relentlessly reinforce this image, reminding us even in introductory references that Judas would ultimately betray Jesus. As a result, Judas’s name has become synonymous with treachery. Giotto painted him in the Scrovegni Chapel placing a faithless kiss upon the Christ. In Dante’s Inferno, Satan grinds Judas between his teeth for all eternity in the frozen pit of hell. And when Bob Dylan goes electric in 1966, a cry of “Judas!” rings out from the Manchester crowd. Judas has become the patron saint of betrayal, and in this dark hagiography, his attribute is his moneybag. The earliest depiction of Judas’s suicide, a panel from a fifth-century ivory casket, depicts him hanging from a tree limb; at his feet, a purse spills its silver. Matthew 27:5 tells us that a remorseful Judas “threw the money into the temple,” but this ivory carver places a purse at Judas’s feet so there could be no mistaking his identity.