Roman 'Zodiac' coin with cancer sign unearthed in Israel



The coin was produced by one of the most tranquil Roman emperors.

A bronze coin from one of the Roman Empire's most tranquil periods was found on the bottom by archaeologists diving off the coast of Israel in the Mediterranean Sea. The Roman goddess of the moon Luna (Greek: Selene) is seen on one side of the coin, underneath which is a crab, the astrological symbol for cancer.

The crew discovered the approximately 1,850-year-old bronze coin while searching in Haifa, Israel.

According to Jacob Sharvit, head of the Israel Antiquities Authority's (IAA) Maritime Archaeology Unit, "This is the first time such a coin has been recovered off Israel's shore."

Between A.D. 138 and 161, during the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius, the coin was struck. According to Britannica, Emperor Hadrian attempted to exterminate the Jews and Romanize the populace in the province of Judaea during his reign. Antoninus Pius succeeded him (opens in new tab). For instance, according to Britannica, Hadrian renamed Judea's territory Syria Palaestina, prohibited the teaching of the Torah, and sold Jewish prisoners into slavery. According to The Jerusalem Post(opens in new tab), it only took Antoninus Pius approximately a year to annul the edicts that were targeting the Jews, therefore conditions for the Jewish people improved during his rule.

Generally speaking, Antoninus Pius is regarded as one of the final emperors to rule during the Pax Romana, the period of comparatively calm in Rome from 27 B.C. and A.D. 180. According to the assertion, Antoninus Pius was known to delegate provincial conflicts through local governors as opposed to deploying military force to resolve problems.

A group of 13 coins featuring astrological signs includes the coin with the crab on it. According to Lior Sandberg, a coin specialist at the IAA, the first twelve portray each astrological sign, while the thirteenth shows the full zodiac (opens in new tab).

According to the statement by Sharvit, "Israel's Mediterranean coastlines and seas have produced numerous archaeological sites and artifacts that prove to relations in antiquity between Mediterranean ports and the countries along it."

Because bronze is formed of tin and copper, which produces an oxide coating when exposed to air and water, the coin has gradually taken on a green hue over time, according to a previous article by Live Science. With time, this layer thickens to the point where the copper underneath is no longer exposed to the air and is thus unable to respond to it.

According to Paul Frail, an advanced senior engineer in corrosion treatments at Suez Water Technologies & Solutions in Pennsylvania, the oxide film will start to [alter], ranging from yellow-reds, blues, and to a greenish tone.

These discoveries, which were lost at sea and vanished from view for tens of thousands of years, Sharvit added, "have been incredibly well maintained." Some are quite uncommon, and their finding completes pieces of the country's historical conundrum.

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