(TheLibertyRevolution.com)- During a dive in the Mediterranean sea just off the coast of Israel, archeologists last week discovered a bronze coin dating back to the Roman Empire.
The team of archeologists found the 1,850-year-old coin on the seafloor while exploring off the coast of Haifa in northern Israel. The coin features a depiction of Luna, the Roman goddess of the moon along with the astrological sign of cancer (a crab).
Lior Sandberg, a coin expert with the Israel Antiquities Authority told the Times of Israel that the bronze crab-bearing coin is part of a set of 13 coins depicting the astrological signs of the zodiac. Twelve of the coins each depict one of the 12 astrological signs while the 13th coin depicts the entire zodiac.
The cancer coin is made from tin and copper. Over the centuries, the copper has oxidized, turning the coin partly green.
According to Jacob Sharvit, the director of the Israel Antiquities Authority’s Maritime Archeology Unit, the “zodiac” coin was minted sometime during the reign of Emperor Antoninus Pius who ruled Rome from 138 to 161 AD.
Antoninus Pius is known as one of the last Roman emperors to reign during Pax Romana, the era of relative peace that extended from 27 BC to 180 AD.
According to Jacob Sharvit, despite being lost at sea for hundreds and even thousands of years, finds like these are “remarkably well-preserved.”
