Prutah (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

: פרוטה) is a

term, possibly derived from Aramaic. It refers to a small denomination

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order ...

History

Antiquity

The prutah was an ancient

copper Copper is a chemical element with the symbol Cu (from la, cuprum) and atomic number 29. It is a soft, malleable, and ductile metal with very high thermal and electrical conductivity. A freshly exposed surface of pure copper has a pink ...

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

ish coin with low value. A loaf of bread in ancient times was worth about 10 ''prutot'' (plural of prutah). One prutah was also worth two lepta (singular

lepton In particle physics, a lepton is an elementary particle of half-integer spin (spin ) that does not undergo strong interactions. Two main classes of leptons exist: charged leptons (also known as the electron-like leptons or muons), and neutr ...

), which was the smallest denomination minted by the Hasmonean and

Herodian Dynasty The Herodian dynasty was a royal dynasty of Idumaean (Edomite) descent, ruling the Herodian Kingdom of Judea and later the Herodian Tetrarchy as a vassal state of the Roman Empire. The Herodian dynasty began with Herod the Great, who assumed t ...

kings. Prutot were also minted by the Roman Procurators of the Province of Judea, and later were minted by the Jews during the First Jewish Revolt (sometimes called 'Masada coins').Prutah on Biblicalmites.com

State of Israel

In modern times, the pruta was a denomination of

currency A currency, "in circulation", from la, currens, -entis, literally meaning "running" or "traversing" is a standardization of money in any form, in use or circulation as a medium of exchange, for example banknotes and coins. A more general ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

. The prutah was introduced shortly after the establishment of the state of

, as the 1000th part of the

Israeli pound The pound or lira ( he, לירה ישראלית ''Lira Yisra'elit'', ar, جنيه إسرائيلي ''Junayh ʾIsrāʾīlī''; abbreviation: IL in Latin, ל"י in Hebrew; code ) was the currency of the State of Israel from 9 June 1952 until 23 Fe ...

. It replaced the mil, which was the 1000th part of the

Palestine pound The Palestine pound ( ar, جُنَيْه فِلَسْطَينِيّ, ; he, פוּנְט פַּלֶשְׂתִינָאִי (א״י), funt palestina'i (eretz-yisra'eli) or he, לירה (א״י), lira eretz-yisra'elit, link=no; Sign: £P) was the ...

, a currency issued by the

British Mandate of Palestine British Mandate of Palestine or Palestine Mandate most often refers to: * Mandate for Palestine: a League of Nations mandate under which the British controlled an area which included Mandatory Palestine and the Emirate of Transjordan. * Mandatory P ...

prior to May 1948. The prutah was abolished in 1960, when the Israeli government decided to change the subdivision of the Israeli pound into 100 agorot. This move was necessary due to the constant

devaluation In macroeconomics and modern monetary policy, a devaluation is an official lowering of the value of a country's currency within a fixed exchange-rate system, in which a monetary authority formally sets a lower exchange rate of the national curre ...

of the Israeli pound, which rendered coins smaller than 10 prutot redundant.

References

External links

2000 year old Maccabean coin found
{{DEFAULTSORT:Prutah (coin) Ancient currencies Jews and Judaism in the Roman Empire Coins of ancient Rome Currencies of Israel Historical currencies, List of Numismatics Modern obsolete currencies

History

Antiquity

State of Israel

See also

References

External links