63 RURAL GALILEE AND RAPID CHANGES Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. In total, 186 coin collections were catalogued, resulting in a database of nearly 10,000 identifiable coins. In essence, Syon’s investigation confirms in great detail what is also known from local excavation counts, namely that while “a dramatic change” 65 took place during the Hasmonean period, when Tyrian and Ptolemaic coins were substituted by Hasmonean coinage, only minor changes took place during the Herodian period. Neither Herod the Great’s nor Herod Antipas’ coinage made any real impact on the circulation. To illustrate, it can be mentioned that while Syon counted 5,632 Hasmonean coins, only 723 coins from Herodian and Romans rulers were found. Thus it is a serious exaggeration to claim that the Herodian rulers profoundly monetized the economy. Rather, they carried forward what already existed 66. 8. Taxes Another factor that has often been presented as a background for the breakdown of the socio-economic stability during the Herodian regimes is the tax burden. Quite a number of scholars have argued for the existence of a system of triple taxation in the first century: imperial, Herodian and temple tax 67. In a recent dissertation, F. Udoh has surveyed this issue afresh and arrives through detailed analysis of the textual sources at a different picture. First, he denies that an imperial tax was ever paid on a regular 65 D. SYON, Tyre and Gamla. A Study in the Monetary Influence of Sout- hern Phoenicia on Galilee and the Golan in the Hellenistic and Roman Periods (unpublished PhD dissertation, Jerusalem 2004) 224. 66 A thorough discussion of the coinage of this period can be found in M.H. JENSEN, “Message and Minting: The Coins of Herod Antipas in Their Second Temple Context As a Source for Understanding the Religio-Political and Socio-Economic Dynamics of Early First Century Galilee”, Religion, Ethnicity and Identity in Ancient Galilee (eds. J. ZANGENBERG – H. ATTRIDGE – D.B. MARTIN) (WUNT 210; Tübingen 2007) 277-314. 67 Cf. e.g. APPLEBAUM, “Roman Province”, 373 and R.A. HORSLEY, Gali- lee. History, Politics, People (Valley Forge, PA 1995) 140, 215-217.