Coin of Jesus Found in Ancient Tiberias Excavation
(November 2004)
An unusual and important find was discovered at the
archaeological excavation of Ancient Tiberias being carried out at a site on the shore of the Sea
of Galilee in Israel.
To their great surprise, a group of young people who
were participating in the dig discovered a rare coin. On the front of
the coin can be seen a somewhat blurred image of Jesus,
while on the back, the words in Greek “Jesus the Messiah King
of Kings” are engraved very clearly. This coin is one of a series
of coins that were issued in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) in
celebration of the First Millennium of Jesus' birth.
It is not uncommon to find this coin in neighboring
countries of Israel, such as Turkey,
but this is the first time that it has ever been discovered at an Israeli
archaeological site.
Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld, Director of this excavation,
which is sponsored by the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem and Brown University, in association with
the City of Tiberias and the Israel Antiquities Authority, explains
that this coin was brought to Tiberias by Christian pilgrims. Tiberias
and the other sites around the Sea of Galilee were the desired destination
of Christian pilgrims during the time of Muslim rule in Israel from
the 7th to 11th centuries CE.
Sources: Ministry
of Foreign Affairs |