When Israeli archaeologists began excavating caves near the Dead Sea, they found a real treasure: nine rare silver coins that are believed to date back to a failed Jewish rebellion against the Romans in the second century A.D.
The Associated Press reports that archaeological finds relating to the three-year rebellion are rare, and these coins help tell the story of the families that Shimon Bar Kochba led into the caves of the Judean Desert at the end of the second Jewish uprising against the Romans to escape brutal repression--a move that resulted in their exile. Even historical records tell little about the rebellion that took place in 132 or its leader since neither side viewed it as a success and so wrote little about it.
Only 2,000 such coins are known to exist, so finding nine more is considered a great treasure. One of the nine coins is particularly rare. Called the Petra Drachma, it is a half-ounce of silver and is the largest Jewish coin ever issued. AP notes that one side of the coin shows Jerusalem's second Jewish temple, destroyed by the Romans during the first Jewish rebellion in the year 70. The other side shows another important Jewish symbol, the image of four plants, known as the four species, used during ceremonies for the festival of Sukkot.
"Bar Kochba never minted his own coins, so what we have here is a Roman coin with the temple and the four species stamped over the portrait of the Roman emperor," Hanan Eshel, who led the digs and is the head of the Jewish Studies and Archaeology Department at Tel Aviv's Bar Ilan University, explained to AP.
Because of where the coins were found--an empty cave and hidden under a large rock--Eshel says they tell a story: "It appears the people first hid their money before fleeing to caves farther in." The monetary value of the coins was high enough to buy a house. He assumes the money was abandoned in the cave because it was useless in the barren desert.
The coins will be displayed to the public at Jerusalem's Israel Museum.
Source: Netscape [August 15, 2010]
