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phil_style t1_iu0vtys wrote

"A coin minted in 29 AD shows an impression of Jesus teaching in the synagogues during his public life, as recorded  in Matthew 4:23 and Mark 1:39 in the New Testament."

What? Surely that's not being reported correctly.

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phil_style t1_iu0xw4o wrote

Replying to Rayirth (#264,805)

The only coin I am aware of from 29AD from that site is a herodian one with palm fronds on it. There isn't a coin with someone in front of a crowd at all. ... let alone anything connecting it to jesus.

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l397flake t1_iu19o4n wrote

Amazing, would be nice if there were a couple more pics from different angles

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Quavinir t1_iu1mte7 wrote

Replying to phil_style (#264,691)

I took some time to look it up, and it seems that there are some coins found at the sight that were minted LATER (Have no clue why it claims they're minted in 29 AD whatsoever) that appear to be hundreds (maybe a thousand) years after the ministry of Jesus. Though it is identified as Jesus Christ with inscriptions in Greek naming the figure specifically.

Bizarrely enough, the only mention of this I could find was on a stock photo-site, that claims that the image and caption came from Reuters, though I have yet to find a reuters story on the matter. https://www.alamy.com/a-rare-thousand-year-old-jesus-coin-on-display-at-the-hebrew-university-of-jerusalem-july-7-the-coins-which-were-discovered-during-an-archaeological-dig-near-the-sea-of-galilee-bears-the-likeness-of-jesus-and-has-greek-inscriptions-praising-him-the-coins-were-unearthed-in-october-in-archaeological-excavations-at-the-site-of-ancient-tiberias-in-northern-israel-but-only-during-a-cleaning-of-the-find-last-month-did-archaeologists-discover-the-image-of-jesus-on-58-of-the-82-coins-some-coins-also-bore-greek-inscriptions-such-as-jesus-the-messiah-the-king-of-kings-and-jesus-the-messiah-image382017674.html

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LordOverThis t1_iu1mx8m wrote

Replying to phil_style (#264,691)

Someone will correct me if I’m mistaken, but as I understand it, this kind of dramatic overselling of an archaeological find with significant leaps of logic is extremely common for “finds” in Israel.

Like “we found a pottery shard, therefore Joshua and the Battle of Jericho!” (an example I made up) kind of fluffery goes on a lot.

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NoFact666 t1_iu1mxyz wrote

Amazing, would love more details/photos on this

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challenger4884 t1_iu1pjny wrote

I visited there in early 2019. The "retreat center" is a hotel with a large meeting hall, built over part of the ruins. Neat place.

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StrategicBean t1_iu1tgxf wrote

Replying to phil_style (#264,691)

The way the article refers to the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem as the "Great Temple" & then "Second Temple" leads me to think the article may be an amalgamation of various other articles on the topic lazily copy/pasta together so it mostly makes sense but is somewhat incoherent

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Osxachre t1_iu1uajv wrote

The birth city of Mary Magdalene?

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StrategicBean t1_iu1vil1 wrote

Replying to Quavinir (#268,729)

Found info! (Full links for verification at bottom)

>Coin of Jesus found in Ancient Tiberias Excavation

>29 Nov 2004

>A rare Jesus coin was found by volunteers digging at the site of Ancient Tiberias.

>(Communicated by Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld, director of the archeological excavation)

>An unusual and important find was discovered at the archaeological excavation of Ancient Tiberias being carried out at a site on the shore of the Sea of Galilee in Israel.

>To their great surprise, a group of young people who were participating in the dig discovered a rare coin. On the front of the coin can be seen a somewhat blurred image of Jesus, while on the back, the words in Greek "Jesus the Messiah King of Kings" are engraved very clearly. This coin is one of a series of coins that were issued in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) in celebration of the First Millennium of Jesus' birth.

>It is not uncommon to find this coin in neighboring countries of Israel, such as Turkey, but this is the first time that it has ever been discovered at an Israeli archaeological site.

>Prof. Yizhar Hirschfeld, Director of this excavation, which is sponsored by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Brown University, in association with the City of Tiberias and the Israel Antiquities Authority, explains that this coin was brought to Tiberias by Christian pilgrims. Tiberias and the other sites around the Sea of Galilee were the desired destination of Christian pilgrims during the time of Muslim rule in Israel from the 7th to 11th centuries CE.

>The Ancient Tiberias Excavation receives financial support from the Avihai Fund of Jerusalem whose aim is the deepening of knowledge of history on the part of the youth participating in the dig and the residents of Tiberias and its environs.

>Mr. Zohar Oved, Mayor of Tiberias, who stands behind the efforts of this excavation, has stated that the finding of the Jesus coin on the shores of the Sea of Galilee will be a drawing point for tourists from all over the world.

Source: I think I found a pretty decent source for the info on this coin

I found a bit about it on the Jewish Virtual Library websiteJewish Virtual Library website article from November 2004 which referenced info obtained from a piece about it on the Government of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs website but the link was now dead so I found the archived version of the page Internet Archive Way back Machine

Here it is, link to Internet Archive Way back Machine cached version from 2006 of Israeli MFA website article posted in 2004

EDIT: spacing & line breaks for legibility

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StrategicBean t1_iu1x5jl wrote

Replying to Rayirth (#264,805)

It is of Jesus but isn't from 29 AD more like 1029 AD

"This coin is one of a series of coins that were issued in Constantinople (present day Istanbul) in celebration of the First Millennium of Jesus' birth."

Via Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs archived at Internet Archive Way back Machine and quoted more fully in another comment in this thread or at this linked text

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bigben42 t1_iu24np3 wrote

I helped excavate part of it when I visited there years ago!

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mrtrone t1_iu2zed9 wrote

Replying to LordOverThis (#268,738)

The coin is real, but from about 1000 AD. See links in this thread.

About what you describe, I think the farther back we go, the more speculative it becomes. About discoveries near Israel, I think the question is usually how it relates to the biblical record, which is always of interest to a lot of people.

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MoreGaghPlease t1_iu3150s wrote

Replying to LordOverThis (#268,738)

A lot of it is also about how media portrays “biblical archeology / history” and tends to talk over the actual academics.

Like I remember a scholar a few years back who wrote a very thoughtful book about the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel. It was an examination of how different groups around the world have used the legend as a basis to form a communal identity and to orient themselves in relation to their religious texts. And of course media ran the story as ‘new book located the lost tribes of Israel’ or something to that effect.

(Of course, the tribes were never “Lost”, the Hebrew bible says exactly where they went and what they did, which is totally supported by the archeology and external sources and also common sense: the Assyrians forcibly exiled their political elites, many fled south as refugees to Judea, and rural commoners stayed where they were, with many continuing to practice the Israelite tradition all the way through to when Judea was re-established in the Persian period aka ‘the people of the land’ as they’re called in Ezra-Nehemiah).

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etopata t1_iu36nnl wrote

I like how they kept harping on that this was only uncovered because a priest decided to build a retreat.

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chuuckaduuckpro t1_iu39lpk wrote

The circle in 8 parts is an Ichthus, a major symbol from early Christianity and also Dharmachakra for the 8-fold path of Buddhism

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Scrybblyr t1_iu4f6z2 wrote

Replying to MrTheta (#266,777)

Jesus was a historical figure. The Bible is not the only document which mentions him. Also, most of his followers went to their deaths versus recanting their faith in Him as God incarnate -so they obviously weren't doing it as a prank, it was something they believed in fully. It is not logical to think that we measure something as important as time in relation to the life of someone who never existed.

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