Trove of ancient coins owned by Hasmonean king discovered during Hanukkah

Israeli researchers working during Hanukkah festival unearthed a rare hoard of 160 coins which belonged to a Hasmonean king.

By World Israel News Staff

A hoard of coins which once belonged to a Jewish king from the Hasmonean dynasty were discovered in Israel’s Jordan Valley on the second day of Hanukkah last week.

Researchers at University of Haifa’s Zinman Institute of Archaeology announced Monday that they had uncovered a rare hoard of coins that belonged to King Alexander Jannaeus, the second king of the Hasmonean dynasty, during a dig that took place over the Hanukkah season.

The excavation was led by Dr. Shay Bar, Dr. Yoav Farhi and Dr. Mechael Osband who made their exceptional discovery on Friday morning.

Alexander Jannaeus (whose Hebrew name was Jonathan) ruled over the kingdom of Judea from 103 to 76 BCE. A descendent of Jewish royalty, King Jannaeus was the son of John Hyrcanus and grandson of Simon the Hasmonean (the brother of Judah Maccabee) and great grandson of Mattathias who led the revolt against the armies of Antiochus.

That famous revolt, which broke out in 167 BCE, led to, among other things, the cleansing of the Temple which we now celebrate every year during the holiday of Hanukkah.

“We believe that the coins were discovered at a way station, which we didn’t know about until this excavation,” said Dr. Bar.

“The site included a purification mikveh, a pool and other buildings and was located along the Tirzah River Valley on the main road that leads to the Sartaba fortress which was built by King Jannaeus.”

Dr. Farhi, who is a curator at the Israel Eretz Israel Museum, said that it appears at first glance that all the coins are the same.

Each coin has an eight-pointed star and an inscription reading “King Alexander, Year 25” in Aramaic, while the other side of the coin has an anchor and in Greek reads, “[Coin of] King Alexander.”

Researchers believe the style of this coin was prevalent in 80/79 BCE.

The finding is extremely rare as very few coin hoards belonging to Alexander Jannaeus have been discovered and this marks one of the largest coin hoards of its kind ever uncovered in Israel.

“All of our students and volunteers were very excited to find this Hasmonean relic, especially during Hanukkah. This gave the holiday an added sense of significance, especially during this difficult time for the Jewish people. I hope that people will be drawn to visit this place and it will become a protected archaeological heritage site in Israel,” Dr. Bar said.