Both faces of this coin celebrate the campaign of Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus in Judea. The issuer of the denarius, A. PLAVTIVS, had fought in Judea himself and was a political supporter of Pompey.
The obverse depicts the goddess Cybele with a turret-like crown. Cybele embodied the fertile earth, but also caverns and mountains, walls and cities. On this coin she stands for the capture of Jerusalem that Pompey had achieved after a month-long siege in 63 BC.
The reverse shows a kneeling figure holding the reins of a dromedary and an olive branch. This supposedly celebrates the surrender of an eastern ruler during Pompey's campaigns, perhaps Dionysius of Tripoli or Aristobulus the High Priest.