Israeli Researchers Uncover 2,200 Year Old Gold Treasure
Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA)
An extremely rare, literally priceless large gold coin was unveiled yesterday after being uncovered by a team of archaeologists in Tel Kedesh, in the upper Galilee.
The coin, minted during the reign of Ptolemy V over in Alexandria in 181 BCE, is the heaviest gold coin ever found in Israel, weighing nearly six times as much as other gold coins.
According to Dr. Donald T. Ariel, head of the Coin Department of the Antiquities Authority, “a coin this size wouldn’t have been circulating in the markets, it would have had ceremonial purpose,” noting that it would have been worth 100 silver coins.
“This much silver would have been the equivalent of a half-year’s salary for an above average person at the time,” he said.
Dr. Ariel told CCN, “[t]he coin is beautiful and in excellent preservation. It is the heaviest gold coin with the highest contemporary value of any coin ever found in an excavation in Israel.”
The “heads” of the coin features Queen Arsinoe II, who married Ptolemy II. Arsinoe II was also known as Queen Arsinoe II Philadelphus, philadelphus meaning “brotherly love,” a reference to the fact that Arsinoe II and Ptolemy II were siblings. That’s probably not kosher.
Nonetheless, after her death, coins bearing her image continued to be made, resulting in a cult-like infatuation with Queen Arsinoe II.
To read more about this crazy find (and where the coin was hidden for millenia), check out the article from CNN here.
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