Someone who hid 44 gold pieces in a wall in the seventh century may have hoped to return and discover their treasure one day. Instead, the coins were discovered almost 1,400 years later by Israeli archaeologists, who welcomed the find as a rare peek into an ancient past during a time of violent invasion.
The trove was discovered at Banias, formerly known as Panaeas, an important sacred location to successive societies throughout history, according to the Israeli Antiquities Authority on Monday.
The pure gold coins, weighing around 170 grams (6 ounces), bear the effigies of emperors Phocas (602-610 A.D.) and Heraclius (610-644 A.D.), prompting scholars to suspect they were secreted during the Muslim takeover of the area in 635.
The coins also give new information about the economics of the area during the last 40 years of Byzantine authority.
The Byzantine Empire, located in what is now Istanbul, was a continuation of the Roman Empire after its collapse in the West in 410 A.D., following the sack of Rome by barbarian tribes. The eastern empire would continue another 1,000 years, although it would lose numerous provinces to Muslim conquests in the seventh century, just around the time the coins were hidden in the wall.
There were other relics of pottery kilns, structures, water channels, and other coins discovered.
Banias, which is now a national park, has played a major spiritual role in various cultures. It was once a Canaanite sanctuary to the god Baal before being renamed Pan in the Hellenistic era after the half-man, half-goat god of shepherds and fertility.
The city reached its zenith during the reign of Herod and his son Philip II, who renamed it Caesarea in honor of the Roman Emperor Caesar Augustus.
Before receiving the keys to the kingdom of heaven, St. Peter declared Jesus to be the son of God, according to Christian tradition.
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