(I apologize if this is a repost.) A wonderful hoard of Ptolemy VI coins has been found in Israel: “The coins were found in a cave at Wadi Murabba’at, a ravine cut by a seasonal stream which runs from the Judean desert east of Bethlehem past the Herodium down to the Dead Sea. The hoard consists of 15 tetradrachma coins mainly minted by Ptolemy VI Philometor, a Greek king of Ptolemaic Egypt who reigned from 180 to 164 BC and from 163 to 145 BC. Ptolemy VI was the eldest son of King Ptolemy V and Queen Cleopatra I, whose reign was characterised by external conflict with the Seleucid Empire over Syria and by internal conflict with his younger brother for control of the Ptolemaic monarchy.” https://www.heritagedaily.com/2022/12/coin-hoard-minted-by-ptolemy-vi-found-in-israel/145562
Cool post. Things such as this is what I refer people to when they ask me, "How is it possible mint state ancients still exist? Burying should prevent them from still having good surfaces, right?". Many ancients were the life savings of people, (this was before banks), and they buried them in vessels at an out of site location for safe keeping. Then something happened, original owner not around, and they stay there for a couple of thousand years before being found.
This is really inspiring. I am just imagining the people who owned these coins, burying them to keep them safe. They had their lives, like we all do, they held and touched these coins, and buried them so very carefully who knows why; maybe they had to escape from their homeland and planned to retrieve their coins at some later time, but they never returned. And just now, 2,200 years later they were discovered.
They often find ancient or medieval coin hoards in Israel or Palestinian Territories. I remember this one found in Rafah, in the Gaza strip. It was buried just under a former Israeli watchtower at the Gaza-Egypt border.
