Death of a Hasmonean hero. In 163BC Seleucid King Antiochus V sent an army to Judea put down the revolt lead by Judas Maccabeus who was seeking freedom for the Jewish state. Included in the forces were 32 of the most terrifying weapons of the era - elephants. Each elephant lead a force of a thousand men. Eleazer, the younger brother of Judas Maccabeaus, spied the largest and most heavily armored of the elephants. Assuming that it carried the king, he single handedly fought his way through the phalanx of soldiers surrounding the elephant, ran under the beast and stabbed it in the belly. The dying elephant fell on top of Eleazer, killing him. Alas, the elephant did not carry the king, and the Jewish forces soon retreated in the face of strength of the Seleucid army. The obverse of the coin features a torch and the legend in Hebrew “And he gave up his soul in battle”.