The E-Sylum:  Volume 6, Number 16, April 20, 2003, Article 4

ISRAELI ARCHAEOLOGISTS DISCOVER RARE COIN

  Dick Johnson writes: "My local paper ran this story today
  without any date or byline."

  Jerusalem -- Israeli archaeologist excavating caves near the
  Dead Sea have found nine rare silver coins believed to date
  back to a failed Jewish rebellion against the Romans in the
  second century.

  The coins add another layer to the story of the families
  Shimon Bar Kochba led into hiding in the caves of the
  Judean Desert -- what turned out to be the end of the
  second Jewish uprising against the Romans, which resulted
  in their exile.

  About 2,000 coins from the rebellion are known to exist,
  and this is only the second time archaeologists have found
  such coins on a dig, said Hanan Eshel, who led the digs
  and is the head of the Jewish Studies and Archaeology
  Department at Tel Aviv's Bar Ilan University.

  Of particular rarity is the largest Jewish coin ever issued,
  a half-ounce silver coin known as the Petra Drachma.

  Wayne Homren, Editor

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