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December 23, 2008
Big Coin Hoard found in Jerusalem
Neat - 264 gold coins, all of the Byzantine emperor Heraclius, found in Jerusalem. The CNN story has pictures, but the Bloomberg.com story offers a probable reason for their deposit - the Persian invasion and sack of Jerusalem in 614. Remember, coin hoards always have a tinge of sadness; someone buried money, but never had a chance to collect it. Especially in circumstances like this we think of death.
Both these stories say the coins are all of the same date or type - so someone had a lot of early Heraclius coins in one place. 264 gold coins was a lot of money!
The Israel Antiquities Authority has the most complete version of the story, as one might expect. The largest hoard discovered in Jerusalem before this had 5 gold coins.
Posted by CrankyProfessor at December 23, 2008 7:31 AM