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Israel: Archaeologists find 2,000-year-old coins inscribed with references to freedom of Jerusalem and Zion

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Israeli archaeologists in the Binyamin region of the West Bank recently found two 2,000-year-old coins which are inscribed with references to the freedom of Jerusalem and Zion, the Times of Israel reports. The coins date back to the times of the Jewish wars against the Romans.

The first coin was found on the ground at the Khirbat Jib’it archaeological site, south of the West Bank town of Duma, the Times of Israel said. According to archaeologists from Bar Ilan University, this coin was minted around 67-68 CE. One side of this coin is inscribed with a vine leaf and the Hebrew words Herut Zion (the freedom of Zion). The other side is inscribed with an amphora and the words “Year Two,” the Times of Israel reports.

The second coin was found a kilometer away, in a cave on the Wadi Rashash cliffs, the Times of Israel said. This coin was minted around 134-135 CE, at the time of the Bar-Kokhba Revolt, the final major Jewish-Roman. On one side the coin is inscribed with a palm branch and a wreath with the inscription LeHerut Yerushalayim (for the freedom of Jerusalem). This coin’s other side is decorated with a musical instrument like a lyre and bears the inscription “Shimon,” the name of the rebel leader Shimon Ben Kosevah, known as Bar-Kokhba.

This coin also indicates that there was a Jewish presence farther north in the region than had been previously thought. “The Bar-Kokhba coin from Wadi Rashash indicates the presence of a Jewish population in the region up to 134/5 CE, in contrast to a previous claim that Jewish settlement in the highlands north of Jerusalem was destroyed during the Great Revolt and not inhabited afterward,” Researcher Dr. Dvir Raviv said in a statement.