“This coin joins only eleven such coins from known locations in the National Treasures Department collection. All the coins were found in the north of Israel from Megiddo and Zippori to Tiberias and Arbel,” Dr Donald Tzvi Ariel, head of the IAA’s Numismatics Department, commented.
The artifact bears images and writing that allowed researchers to precisely identify its origin and dating: One of its sides reads “of the people of Geva Phillipi”, [civic] year 217 together with the image of a Syrian, The other face carries the portrait of Roman emperor Antonius Pius.
“The coin discovered is one of the municipal coins minted in the city of Geva Philippi, also known as Geva Parashim,” Dr Avner Ecker, lecturer in classical archaeology at Bar-Ilan University’s Department of Land of Israel Studies and Archaeology, explained. “The year marked on the coin is the year when the municipal council was evidently established and its citizens were allowed self-government under the Roman Empire.”
The settlement of Geva was already mentioned by 1st century historian Yosifun, a Jewish soldier who eventually went to Rome, whose works are considered a fundamental source on the Jewish revolt against the Romans and on life in the land of Israel at the time. The ancient scholar located the town on the foothills at the edge of the Jezreel Valley – not far from the Carmel.
