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These Gold Coins Were Stashed in a Stone Wall Nearly 1,400 Years Ago
Smithsonian Magazine ^ | October 11, 2022 | Molly Enking

Posted on 10/23/2022 11:40:21 AM PDT by SunkenCiv

Israeli archaeologists have discovered a secret stash of Byzantine-era coins inside a stone wall—where someone may have once tried to hide them.

Made of pure gold, the 44 coins are decorated with portraits of Emperors Phocas and Heraclius, who ruled in the first half of the seventh century. Experts believe the treasure, which is dated to 635 C.E., was hidden during the Muslim conquest of the area around the end of Heraclius' reign.

The artifacts were unearthed as part of a larger excavation in the ancient city of Banias, now a part of Hermon Stream Nature Reserve in the Golan Heights, an area Israel captured from Syria during the Six-Day War...

In 330 C.E. Constantine I established Constantinople, or modern-day Istanbul, as his capital. While the new resulting Byzantine Empire would continue to thrive for more than 1,000 years, it lost several of its provinces to Muslim conquests...

The researchers also note the differences between the portraits displayed on each coin... Gabriela Bijovsky, a coin expert at the IAA, says in the statement. "One can actually follow his sons growing up -- from childhood until their image appears the same size as their father, who is depicted with a long beard."...

During the excavation, researchers at the site also unearthed the remains of buildings, a pottery kiln, bronze coins and fragments of pottery and glass, among other things. The objects date from the end of the Byzantine period in the early 7th century through the 11th–13th centuries.

While the coins were among the older items discovered, they were in remarkably good condition...

Editor's Note, October 13, 2022: This story has been updated to correct the timeline of the Byzantine Empire.

(Excerpt) Read more at smithsonianmag.com ...


TOPICS: History; Science; Travel
KEYWORDS: byzantineempire; coins; druze; epigraphyandlanguage; godsgravesglyphs; golanheights; heraclius; israel; maqamnabikhadr; middleages; phocas; romanempire
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To: SunkenCiv

Lol!


41 posted on 10/23/2022 2:00:00 PM PDT by subterfuge (I'm a pure-blood!)
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To: Repeal The 17th
—where someone may have once tried to hide them.

Captain Obvious strikes again!



Exactly my first thought....sad commentary on today's "journalists".
42 posted on 10/23/2022 2:07:46 PM PDT by rottndog (What comes after America?)
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To: Silentgypsy
Ha! Now I know where you’ve stashed all your gold.

Yes, but it will take a few hundred or a thousand years to find out which wall.

43 posted on 10/23/2022 2:09:05 PM PDT by seowulf (Civilization begins with order, grows with liberty, and dies with chaos...Will Durant)
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To: C210N

Bkmk


44 posted on 10/23/2022 2:22:07 PM PDT by ptsal (Vote R.E.D. >>>Remove Every Democrat ***)
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TREASURE HOARD UNCOVERED AT ANCIENT PANEAS
https://www.heritagedaily.com/2022/10/treasure-hoard-uncovered-at-ancient-paneas/144898


45 posted on 10/23/2022 3:09:53 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Jewbacca; grumpygresh

Ah, but Ezra Chapter 1 tells us what was brought BACK to Jerusalem from Babylon.

Ezra Chapter 1

Ezra 1:1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,

Ezra 1:2 Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.

Ezra 1:3 Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.

Ezra 1:4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.

Ezra 1:5 Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.

Ezra 1:6 And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.

Ezra 1:7 Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;

Ezra 1:8 Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.

Ezra 1:9 And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives,

Ezra 1:10 Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand.

Ezra 1:11 All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.


46 posted on 10/23/2022 3:56:21 PM PDT by Wiz-Nerd
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To: SunkenCiv

“I’ve never wondered that. :^)

He had all those wives, and with all those Jewish attorneys around...”

Two of the most expensive people on the earth - wives and attornys, Especially so when they are in the same camp :-)


47 posted on 10/23/2022 4:07:16 PM PDT by Wiz-Nerd
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To: Wiz-Nerd

;^)


48 posted on 10/23/2022 4:10:38 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: seowulf

I’m retired so I have plenty of time on my hands.


49 posted on 10/23/2022 5:13:36 PM PDT by Silentgypsy (In my defense, I was left unsupervised.)
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To: SunkenCiv

An archaeological tour of Israel is something I’ll probably never do, but it’s high on the list of “If you could do anything ...”


50 posted on 10/23/2022 5:19:06 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Nature, art, silence, simplicity, peace. And fungi.)
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To: Wiz-Nerd

Yeah, but the attorneys are worth it.


51 posted on 10/23/2022 5:21:04 PM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem.)
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To: Tax-chick

There’s just one ad on YouTube right now that I watch, it’s for tourists to visit Israel. It looks very urban, very modern, and very ancient at the same time.

https://www.biblicalarchaeology.org/digs/


52 posted on 10/23/2022 5:24:10 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: Wiz-Nerd

Yesh, but all the non-temple items went to rebuilding.

Next chapter or so, Ezra is berating people for building up nice houses while the Temple was in disaster. They ran out quick.

And so it all remained for several hundred years. (It functioned, but it took quite some time before it as properly redone.)


53 posted on 10/23/2022 5:24:43 PM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem.)
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To: SunkenCiv

“Archaeology” magazine is still offering tours with Dr. Zahi Hawass, “the world’s most famous archaeologist”!


54 posted on 10/23/2022 5:31:41 PM PDT by Tax-chick (Nature, art, silence, simplicity, peace. And fungi.)
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To: Jewbacca; grumpygresh

Thank you for pointing out that grumpy was referring to King Solomon’s wealth and I was relating to the Temple’s instruments of worship. Those were on my mind and I erred. They are not the same. The Temple items were returned, but what account is there of Solomon’s wealth?

Solomon passed to his fathers around 935 to 921 BC depending on who is reporting and eventually his sons went on to rule both North (Israel/Ephraim) and South (Judah) Israel so it seems his wealth did not go to Babylon. At least not only to Babylon as the Assyrians took Northern Israel around 740 BC while Southern Israel was taken by Babylon in 586 BC. So you have to consider where Solomon’s wealth went between his death and the fall of Southern Israel.

Please re-check Ezra and Nehemiah’s account along with other accounts in the Torah. Again, your recollections of the event may differ.


55 posted on 10/23/2022 6:14:28 PM PDT by Wiz-Nerd
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To: Cincinnatus.45-70

#22 Except they were not successful in hiding from the muslims and were likely killed.


56 posted on 10/23/2022 6:46:13 PM PDT by minnesota_bound (Need more money to buy everything now)
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To: SunkenCiv
Experts believe the treasure, which is dated to 635 C.E.

OK, I'll bite. What does "635 C.E." mean? What happened to "BC" and "AD"?

57 posted on 10/23/2022 7:04:41 PM PDT by China Clipper ( Animals? I love animals. See? There's one there, right next to the potatoes!)
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To: China Clipper

The find was made in Israel.


58 posted on 10/23/2022 8:30:17 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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To: China Clipper

It’s a courtesy to non-Jewish readers who use the pagan Gregorian calendar that has become common since the Roman Empire imposed it.

The actual year would be AM 4395, but a typical common reader of such an article doesn’t understand the Hebrew Calendar.

So the “common” date is used.


59 posted on 10/23/2022 8:46:55 PM PDT by Jewbacca (The residents of Iroquois territory may not determine whether Jews may live in Jerusalem.)
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To: Tax-chick

Pay to play isn’t just for Chicago and the Biden crime family.


60 posted on 10/23/2022 9:01:49 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (Imagine an imaginary menagerie manager imagining managing an imaginary menagerie.)
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