Archaeologists in Israel Uncover an Ancient Coin Inscribed With the Cancer Zodiac Sign

A group of archaeologists in northern Israel have discovered a uncommon bronze coin depicting a logo of the zodiac, relationship again almost 2,000 years.

The treasure was discovered close to Haifa within the Mediterranean Sea, and was minted in Alexandria, Egypt, in the course of the reign of Roman emperor Antonius Pius.

The coin bears the phrases “yr eight,” referring to the eighth yr (144 or 145 C.E.) of Pius’s rule.

Exceptionally well-preserved, the coin depicts a crab, the picture of the Most cancers zodiac signal, below a portrait of Luna, the moon goddess.

Based on researchers, it could have belonged to a set of 13 cash marking every of the 12 indicators of the zodiac, together with one inscribed with the whole zodiac wheel.

“That is the primary time such a coin has been found off Israel’s coast, and it’s a uncommon addition to the Nationwide Treasures assortment,” Israel Antiquities Authority Maritime Archaeology Unit director Jacob Sharvit said in a statement.

“Israel’s Mediterranean shores and waters have yielded many archaeological websites and finds that attest to connections in antiquity between Mediterranean ports and the nations alongside it.”

The coin was recovered whereas researchers performed a maritime survey off the coast of Haifa as a part of a broader plan to find, doc, analysis, and protect antiquities.

Discovered close to a “small hoard” of different bronze cash, it’s seemingly that the cache fell into the ocean as the results of a shipwreck.

“Within the final decade, the State of Israel has modified its notion of the ocean,” Israel Antiquities Authority director Eli Eskosido mentioned. “Reasonably than marking the nation’s border, the ocean is now acknowledged as an integral a part of its cultural heritage, along with safety issues and strategic and financial issues.”