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The bronze coin is so rare , that out of 22,000 coins found inarchaeologicalexcavations in the Old City of Jerusalem , just four are from the revolt , known as the Bar Kokhba revolt , Donald Tzvi Ariel , school principal of the Coin Department at the IAA , state in a statement .
A cluster of grape vine and the dedication , " Year Two of the Freedom of Israel , " appear on one side of the coin , and on other is a palm tree with the word " Jerusalem , " making it the only coin on record from the revolt to bear the name " Jerusalem , " the IAA enunciate .
The bronze coin has the words “Year Two of the Freedom of Israel” with a cluster of grapes in the middle.
have-to doe with : photograph : 2000 - twelvemonth - sometime Roman road and coins discovered in Israel
What was the Bar Kokhba revolt?
When the revolt start out in A.D. 132 , Jerusalem was a papist colony . Tensions were high between the Judaic people and the Romans , head byEmperor Hadrian(ruled A.D. 117 - 138 ) , who plan to plough Jerusalem into Aelia Capitolina , a papistical city give to the god Jupiter , grant to the book " A myopic story of the Jewish People : From Legendary Times to Modern Statehood " ( Macmillan General Reference , 1998 ) .
The leader of the revolt , Simon barroom Kosiba ( also spelled Shimon Ben - Kosiba ) , was dub Bar Kokhba , or " Logos of the star . " That name intimate he was the messiah , as it drew from a melody in the Torah ( the Jewish Bible ) that referenced the subject , Raymond Scheindlin , professor emeritus of medieval Hebrew literature , wrote in the book .
Bar Kokhba act like a Judean king and military leader , and commence issuing coin , such as the one recently unearthed in the William Davidson Archaeological Park .
The other side of the newly discovered coin has the inscription “Jerusalem” next to a palm tree.
Bar Kokhba coin are well known to archaeologists , the IAA ’s Ariel pronounce . Many of these coin ( unlike this one ) are find outside of Jerusalem , and each one aid researchers map out the uprising , he said .
So , how did this coin end up in Jerusalem ?
" It is potential that a Romanic soldier from the Tenth Legion found the coin during one of the struggle across the state and wreak it to their camp in Jerusalem as a relic , " archaeologists at the IAA said in the statement .
These coin commonly feature the frontage of the Temple , ( the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in A.D. 70 ) , as well as symbols associated with the tabernacle , such as trumpets , a lyre , palm ramification and amphora ( clay jugs),according to the Jewish Virtual Library .
coin minted during the first two years of the uprising typically carry inscriptions saying " buyback of Israel " and " Freedom of Israel , " but that changed to a message of Leslie Townes Hope with the lettering " For the Freedom of Jerusalem " during the third twelvemonth , when the revolt became more of a defensive guerrilla action , grant to the Jewish Virtual Library .
In what was potential an routine of rebelliousness , these coins were minted on Roman coin , the IAA said .
Despite their upshot , the Bar Kokhba insurrectionist were unable to breach the boundaries of ancient Jerusalem . Bar Kokhba was bolt down in 135 , but the rising itself lasted almost five yr .
Related : Photos : Biblical - Era Fortress Discovered in Israel
After the Romans squash the revolt , they unleashed a sovereignty of terror on the Jews of Judea . The Romans deported the Jews there , get off many of them northward to Galilee and betray others as slaves . So many captives were sold , that it was said that the cost of a slave was down to that of a horse , Scheindlin wrote .
" Jerusalem was definitively turned into a pagan metropolis , with a statue of Hadrian and perhaps a synagogue to Jupiter Capitolinus in its center ; Jews were forbid from even entering it , " Scheindlin write .
Even so , Bar Kokhba became a historic hero , according to the IAA .
The dig was pay for by the Ir David Foundation . It was done under the superintendence of the Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Judaic Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem , Ltd. which is located between the Temple Mount and the City of David .
Originally published onLive skill .
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