Treasure find from Bet She'an

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The Bet She'an treasure was discovered in 1998 during rescue excavations in the southern district of the city of Bet She'an , east of the road from Tiberias to Jericho in Israel . The hoard consists of 751 Byzantine gold coins from the 7th century. Weighing around 3.4 kg, it is the largest 7th century gold hoard found during archaeological digs.

The excavations uncovered a complex of houses from the Byzantine and Umayyad periods that had apparently been destroyed by the 749 earthquake. The find was made in an area that was outside the city walls towards the end of the Byzantine period. During the Umayyad period (7th to 8th centuries), this unfortified district continued to grow. The gold hoard was found under the floor, on which there was also a group of jugs, in the corner of a courtyard. The gold coins were in a small saucepan. Although the pot is characteristic of the Umayyad period, all coins are solidi , the standard gold coins of the Byzantine Empire. Most of the coins minted in Constantinople cover a period of around 70 years (from 610 to 681). All four emperors of this time are represented by their coins:

Solidus of Phocas
Solidus of Herakleios with his sons Constantine III. and Heraklonas

The iconography of the 7th century solidi is fairly uniform. The obverse shows the portrait of the emperor with or without his sons and with his name. Until the reign of Phocas there is a standing angel in a frontal view with the inscription: "VICTORIA AVG" (victory of Augustus) on the back. This is followed by a letter, the so-called “officina”, probably the identification of the mint or the serial number of the coin issue. Below is the abbreviation: “CONOB”, a combination of the minting location Constantinople and the term “obrizum”, which means fine gold . Emperor Heraclius introduced the cross on three levels as a new image on the reverse. This remained the most common representation during the 7th century. Graffiti is a phenomenon on the coins of the hoard. Many represent symbols, monograms, and letters that sometimes form short words.

The Bet She'an hoard apparently represents the local currency of the Arab-Byzantine transition period. It was probably created during the 10 unstable years before the currency reform (696/697) of Caliph Abd al-Malik (646-705), which forbade the use of Byzantine money. Hearts like that of Bet She'an show that Byzantine gold coins remained in circulation until the reform of Abd al-Malik.

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