A rare half-shekel coin from the period of the Great Jewish Revolt against Rome has been discovered during excavations in the Ophel region in the south of the Mount Temple in Jerusalem.
According to sources, in addition to this coin, several dozen Jewish coins, mostly made of bronze, were found. But among them was a rare piece of silver in half-shekel denomination, which was minted in 69/70 AD.
The excavations were carried out by a Hebrew University team led by Professor Uzi Leibner of the Institute of Archaeology, in collaboration with Herbert W. Armstrong College in Oklahoma, and with the support of the East Jerusalem Development Company, the Israel Antiquaries Authority and the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.
Obverse of the coin.
The third coin of this type ever found in Jerusalem was cleaned in the Conservation Laboratory of the Institute of Archaeology and identified by Dr. Yoav Farhi, the team's numismatic expert and curator of the Kadman Numismatic Pavilion at the Eretz Israel Museum in Tel Aviv.
The coins of this period were minted by the Jews in Jerusalem when they rebelled against Roman rule. In most cases, the silver coins featured a bowl on one side with a Hebrew text marking the year of the rebellion. Depending on the denomination, the coins also included an inscription around the edge marking "Israeli Shekel", "Half Shekel" or "Quarter Shekel". The reverse of these coins depicted a branch with three pomegranates surrounded by the Hebrew inscription "Holy Jerusalem".
Reverse of the coin.
Earlier coins of this type were found in the area of the Western Wall and in the city of David, but all of them were discovered during random finds.
