Gold coin excavated at Bethsaida

AN ANCIENT GOLD COIN has been excavated at Bethsaida:

Rare coin bears good tidings for UNO's Israeli excavations

By John Keenan
[OMAHA] WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Dr. Rami Arav didn't get into archaeology for the money.

He was very excited, however, when his team of researchers uncovered a rare gold coin during excavation work in the ancient city of Bethsaida, near the Sea of Galilee in Israel.

Arav is director of excavation and research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha's Bethsaida Excavations Project, a 24-year effort to uncover the archaeological mysteries of the biblical-era city.

The coin, which weighs 7 grams, is 97.6 percent gold, Arav said.
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The find was unexpected because Bethsaida primarily was home to humble fishermen, he said. Arav said somebody must have been doing good business a little more than 100 years after the birth of Christ.

The gold coin, about three-quarters of an inch in diameter, carries the image of Antoninus Pius, the 15th Roman emperor, who reigned between A.D. 138 and 161.

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More on recent finds (including other gold objects) at Bethsaida here.