Persian-era coin from Cyprus surfaces on Israeli beach

According to the Antiquities Authority, the coin was minted in the ancient city of Salamis, on the eastern coast of Cyprus, around the middle of the 5th century BCE.

By Pesach Benson, TPS

A deputy director of the Ashdod Beaches Department, who typically helps bathers find jewelry and belongings lost in the sand, discovered a 2,500-year-old coin from Cyprus, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced on Sunday.

Avi Chaprak, deputy director of the department, was searching for lost objects on an Ashdod beach about a month ago when he came across the ancient coin.

He submitted the find to the Israel Antiquities Authority.

An examination by the Antiquities Authority’s coin department confirmed that the object was an exceptionally rare specimen never before recorded in the country.

“At first glance it looked to be made of silver, but a closer examination showed it to actually be of metal that was only plated with silver, a known phenomenon in Cypriot silver coins from this period, given the shortage of silver on the island,” said Yaniv David Levy, a researcher and curator in the Antiquities Authority’s coin department.

One side of the coin bears a left-facing recumbent ram, while the other shows a left-facing ram’s head set within a sunken square frame, accompanied by a vertical laurel branch and three symbols believed to belong to the Cypriot syllabic script.

According to the Antiquities Authority, the coin was minted in the ancient city of Salamis, on the eastern coast of Cyprus, around the middle of the 5th century BCE, during the period when the Persian empire controlled the island.

Weighing roughly 11 grams (0.39 oz.), it is a standard denomination known as a siglos.

“Coins of this size and value from the Persian period are rare altogether in the archaeological record,” Levy said.

“Usually, silver coins of this size were not preserved intact. Over time, they were cut into small pieces, for use as local trade currency. Furthermore, evidence of such use is known mainly from inland sites in Israel. Therefore, the discovery of a complete coin from the coastal area is thus unusual on all accounts, and of special historical importance.”

Dr. Evangeline Markou, a senior researcher at the Institute of Historical Research at the National Hellenic Research Foundation in Athens and an expert on ancient Cypriot coinage, said Salamis coins from the 5th century BCE circulated widely across the Eastern Mediterranean, but pieces with a clear findspot are far less common.

“Salamis coins from the 5th century BCE were circulating throughout the Eastern Mediterranean. However, finds with an exact provenance are rarer, and therefore this coin potentially offers significant information about trade ties and movement between Cyprus and the Land of Israel during this period,” Markou explained.

Levy said the way the coin was reported strengthens its scholarly value.

“The circumstances of the discovery and the accurate reporting allow us researchers not only to identify the coin itself, but also to use it as a reliable source of information about economic and maritime ties that existed in this region some 2,500 years ago,” he said.

Israeli Heritage Minister Rabbi Amihai Eliyahu praised the find and Chaprak’s decision to report it.

“The rare coin discovered on the Ashdod coast is tangible evidence of the maritime and commercial ties that existed between the Land of Israel and Cyprus some 2,500 years ago,” Eliyahu said.

“The public’s cooperation in reporting on antiquities makes it possible to preserve the heritage assets that belong to all of us.”

Said Chaprak, “I am happy that I was privileged to be part of a discovery of historical value. If through this act I contributed another small piece toward the research and history of the Land of Israel, then that is a great honor for me.”

COINCyprusIsraeli archaeology