The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

"Origin of the Temple": A Girl Discovered a Rare 2,000-Year-Old Coin | Israel today

2021-11-23T07:16:57.314Z


Liel Krotokop, 11, of Petah Tikva, discovered a unique archeological find, which the researchers estimate was extracted from the many silver reserves that were in the Second Temple, and may have been minted by one of the Temple priests, head of the Antiquities Authority: In archeological excavations, only about 30 coins are coins made of silver, from the period of the Great Revolt "


As part of archeological excavation work, which came from the Antiquities Authority's excavations in the City of David, a girl found a rare 2,000-year-old silver coin from the Second Temple period.

The coin was discovered by 11-year-old Liel Krotokop from Petah Tikva, who came with her family to the "Archaeological Experience", which is operated by the City of David together with the Nature and Parks Authority at Emek Tzurim National Park in Jerusalem.

Scholars believe that the coin unearthed was extracted from the many silver reserves in the Second Temple, and may have been minted by one of the Temple priests, who joined the efforts of the great revolt of the Jews against the Romans, on the eve of the destruction of the Second Temple.

Scholars estimate that it was sunk by the priests in the Second Temple, Photo: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David

The coin weighs about 14 grams, and was discovered in dirt that came from archeological excavations conducted by the Israel Antiquities Authority on the "Pilgrim Road" in the City of David National Park.

On one side is a description of a trophy with the caption: "Shekel Yisrael" and next to the trophy are the letters: Shabbat - which express the words "Year B" - the second year of the great revolt of the Jews against the Romans (67-68 CE).

On the other side of the coin is a description identified by scholars as the headquarters of the High Priest, and next to it appear in ancient Hebrew script the words: "Holy Jerusalem."

Dr. Robert Cole, head of the Antiquities Authority's coin branch, referred to the discovery and said that "this is a rare find, since out of many thousands of coins discovered to date in archeological excavations, only about 30 coins are coins made of silver, from the Great Revolt."

Archaeologist Ari Levy, one of the directors of the excavation on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, described the find and said: "On this street, which connected the Shiloah Pool in the south of the City of David to the Temple Mount in the north, "There has been a very extensive trading activity here. This is evidenced by the many weights and bronze coins we have found here. But to find a rebel coin made of pure silver is certainly special and exciting."

Dr. Cole estimates that the money from which the coin was made came from the many money reserves that were in the Temple, and that it was minted on the Temple Mount plaza - possibly by one of the priests, who worked in coordination with rebel leaders and helped them: "This is very high quality money.

Where else could one find money in such quantity and such high quality in those days?

Only in the temple.

"If so, we can say with caution that this coin is probably one of the only items we can hold today that originated in the Temple itself."

A 2,000-year-old coin was found by an 11-year-old girl, Photo: Eliyahu Yanai, City of David

As part of the excavation, the archaeological dirt was sent for wet filtration in the Zurim Valley National Park, and the person who was privileged to discover the find was the girl Liel Krotokop, who came with her parents and sister to the filtration activity. "We poured the bucket with the dirt on the strainer, and while sifting through the stones that were inside, I saw something round," Liel described the moving moments of exposing the rare find. "At first I did not know what it was, but it looked different from all the other stones. My father brought it to one of the facts, and she showed it to an archaeologist. He looked at it and said it was a silver coin that needed to be cleaned. I was very excited. There are simple coins in the buckets, but I did not think I would find a coin myself, and certainly not such a rare coin made of pure silver. I was lucky I was able to find it, but I also want to say thank you to my sister "I probably would not have found that coin."

The coin, which was sent to the laboratories of the Israel Antiquities Authority, underwent a chemical process for cleaning, and recently, upon completion of the process, the significance of the find became clear. Dr. Cole stressed that “currency is a sign of sovereignty. If you go into rebellion, you use one of the most obvious symbols of the independence claim, and you mint coins. The inscription on the coin clearly expresses the aspirations of the rebels. The choice to use ancient Hebrew script, which was no longer in use at that time, is also not accidental. The use of this scripture came to express the longing of the people of the time for the days of David and Solomon and the days of the United Kingdom - days when the people of Israel had full independence in the land. "

Eli Escozido, Director of the Israel Antiquities Authority, welcomed the discovery and said: "I was happy to see the excitement and curiosity that gripped the girl Liel with finding the rare coin. Liel will conduct an activity on coin minting, and will share with all its members the findings and its importance. "

Meanwhile, the rare coin will be presented to the general public during the Hanukkah days at Emek Tzurim National Park in Jerusalem.

In the City of David and the Nature and Parks Authority, the public is invited to come and participate in the screening activity in the "archeological experience" that takes place there.

Source: israelhayom

All news articles on 2021-11-23

You may like

Life/Entertain 2024-01-30T08:38:52.023Z

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.