Coin
Photo by ZSun Fu on Unsplash

Investigators as well as experts who have been fishing off the coast of Israel unearthed a bronze penny on arguably one of the Roman Civilization's finest tranquil periods.

The quarter represents Luna which is known to be Selene in Greek, and also recognized to be the Roman deity of the moonlight, with a crab, the cancer astronomical symbol, below her on one edge.

Zodiac Coin Found in the Mediterranean Sea

The bronze penny according to the reports was discovered by the crew while they were searching off the border of Haifa in northern Israel, as per The Washington Post.

As per what Jacob Sharvit, project leader of the Israel Antiquities Authority's (IAA) Maritime Archaeology Department, told reporters, the incident was the very initial occasion that such a currency has indeed been unearthed off the coastline of Israel.

The penny was struck all through Emperor Antoninus Pius' time in charge, which was approximately from A.D. 138 and 161. While as shown in the post from the website of Britannica, Antoninus Pius governed following the late Emperor Hadrian, whom attempted to expel Jews as well as Romanize the inhabitants of Judaea.

Moreover, according to Britannica, Hadrian started selling Jewish captives in to the indentured servitude, prohibited the practice of Torah, and renamed the region Judea Syria Palaestina.

In the latest release from Smithsonian Magazine states that circumstances for Jews eased during Antoninus Pius, in accordance with The Jerusalem Post, which said that it simply required Antoninus Pius roughly a year just to annul the rulings condemning Jews.

In broad sense, Antoninus Pius is remembered as being one of the final ruler to govern during in the Pax Romana, a period of comparative calm in Rome that lasted from 27 B.C. and A.D. 180.

In the official statement released by the experts and authorities, Antoninus Pius was renowned to outsource provincial conflicts thru all the small rural administrators much more than deploying large army to resolve these disputes.

Coin with a Cancer Sign


The crab-bearing penny is part of a collection of 13 coins depicting astrological symbols. The first twelve coins feature single astrology symbol apiece, but the thirteenth portrays the full zodiac, according to Lior Sandberg, an IAA coin specialist, Times of Israel updated.

In his declared proposition, Sharvit explained that Israel's Mediterranean coastlines and seas have provided many historical monuments and artefacts that demonstrate to historical contacts among Mediterranean harbors and the nations around the Mediterranean.

The coinage itself has gotten somewhat greenish over time; bronze is formed of both tin and copper, and then when copper is subjected to air and water, it creates an oxide coating, as originally documented by Live Science.

This coating thickens with period, till the tin underneath it is no more subjected to heat and therefore cannot again respond to it.

Paul Frail, a highly developed systems consultant in corrosive solutions with Suez Water Technologies & Solutions in Pennsylvania repeatedly indicated that as the oxide coating develops and gains additional hue, it will commence to alter, spanning from yellow-reds, blues, as well as eventually a greenish tint, The Jerusalem Post reported.

These treasures, as per to Sharvit statement which were abandoned in the ocean and hidden from view for decades and centuries, have been astonishingly well maintained. A few are incredibly uncommon, and their finding wraps up pieces of the historical and cultural jigsaw.