Ancient coin stash used by Jewish rebels in fight against Rome discovered

Rare hoard of coins used by Jewish rebels during the last major uprising against Roman rule discovered in northern Israel.

By World Israel News Staff

Coins dating back over 1,600 years to the last major Jewish revolt in the Land of Israel against Roman rule was discovered recently in northern Israel.

A total of 22 copper coins dating back to the 4th century CE were discovered in a small crevice deep in an underground tunnel complex lying beneath the ruins of the Lower Galilee ancient settlement of Hukok, the Israel Antiquities Authority said on Thursday.

The coin stash was discovered during a joint archaeological dig conducted by the IAA and the Zefat Academic College.

“It seems that the people stashing this hoard carefully planned its hiding place, hoping to return to it when the threatening troubles were over,” say researchers Uri Berger from the Israel Antiquities Authority and Prof. Yinon Shivtiel of Zefat Academic College.

“The coins were discovered in a pit, deliberately dug at the end of a narrow winding tunnel.”

The Hukok complex, an underground network of tunnels and rooms used by Jewish rebels to hide from the Roman army, was likely created during the Great Revolt (66–70 CE) and then expanded and improved upon in preparation for the Bar-Kochba Revolt (132–136 CE).

Archaeologists initially assumed the coins date back to the time of either of these early rebellions.

However, the visages of Emperors Constantius II and Constans I appeared on the coins. Their reigns were during the time of a later revolt – the Gallus Revolt (351-352 CE), the lesser-known and last Jewish revolt under Roman rule.

“This shows that hundreds of years after these tunnels were dug out, they were reused,” the researchers said. “The hoard provides – in all probability, unique evidence, that this hiding complex was used in one way or another during another crisis – during the Gallus Revolt – a rebellion for which we have only scant historical evidence of its existence.”

The Hukok hiding complex is one of the largest and most intricate of its kind in the entire Galilee. It comprises a series of underground spaces connected by narrow passages and winding tunnels.

“The coin hoard from the days of the Gallus Revolt, hidden deep in the Hukok hiding complex, joins other finds on the site that teach about the days of hardship and periods of crisis that the Jews of Hukok and the Galilee went through during the long Roman period in the Land of Israel,” Berger and Prof. Shivtiel said.

“Happily, we know that shortly after this final revolt – apparently at the end of this tragic period of hardship, a magnificent synagogue with magnificent mosaics was built on the top of the hill, and the settlement here began an era of long-lasting prosperity.”

Israeli Minister of Heritage, Rabbi Amichai Eliyahu called the discovery a “living testimony to the determination of the Jews of the Galilee and their ongoing struggle to maintain their identity and traditional Jewish lifestyle even in difficult times under the Roman rule.”