Ashdod, Israel. A rare 2,500-year-old coin minted in ancient Salamis has been found on a beach in Israel after a municipal worker uncovered it while searching the sand for lost valuables.
The coin was identified as a siglos from Salamis, a city kingdom in Cyprus that was under Persian rule during the mid-fifth century BC.
Discovery and identification
The silver-plated coin was found by Avi Chaprak, deputy director of Ashdod’s beaches department, while scanning the shoreline for jewellery and other items lost by beachgoers.
Chaprak handed the find to the Israel Antiquities Authority, whose experts examined it and identified it as a coin minted in ancient Salamis.
Coin features
According to Israel Antiquities Authority coin specialist Yanniv David Levy, the coin weighs about 11 grams and appears to be solid silver, but is made of base metal coated with silver.
Levy said the method was used in Cypriot minting during periods of limited silver supplies. One side of the coin depicts a reclining ram, while the reverse shows a ram’s head, a laurel branch and three symbols from the ancient Cypriot syllabic script.
Large silver coins from the Persian period were often cut into smaller pieces for trade, making complete examples uncommon, Levy said.
Recognition and repatriation question
Chaprak received a certificate of appreciation from the Israel Antiquities Authority for reporting the discovery. He said the coin belonged to “our shared heritage”.
The Cyprus Mail attempted to contact the Antiquities Department on whether it would consider seeking the repatriation of the find.
