A tiny but extremely rare gold coin dating back more than 2,200 years has been uncovered during excavations at the City of David National Park in Jerusalem, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced on Wednesday.
The coin, a quarter-drachma made of nearly pure gold (99.3%), was minted between 246–241 BCE for Queen Berenice II, wife of the Hellenistic ruler Ptolemy III of Egypt.
Only 20 such coins are known worldwide, and this is the first ever found in an archaeological context. It will be displayed publicly for the first time in early September at the 26th Annual City of David Research Conference.
The obverse of the coin shows Berenice wearing a diadem and veil, with a necklace around her neck. The reverse depicts a cornucopia, an ancient symbol of prosperity and fertility, flanked by two stars, and encircled by a Greek inscription reading “of Queen Berenice.”
Berenice II, often remembered by the epithet Euergetis (“the Benefactress”), was born around 267 BCE and became one of the most prominent queens of the Hellenistic world. Initially ruling Cyrenaica (eastern Libya) after the death of her father Magas, she secured her position by marrying Demetrius the Fair, though his reign was short-lived.
Following a turbulent struggle with her mother, she later married her half-cousin Ptolemy III, thereby bringing Cyrenaica back under Ptolemaic control.
As queen of Egypt, Berenice played an active role in political life. She was honored within the royal cult alongside her husband and venerated as a goddess in her own right. Her most enduring cultural legacy came when she dedicated a lock of her hair as a religious offering, an act that inspired the naming of the constellation Coma Berenices.
Her reign ended violently in 221 BCE when she was assassinated on the orders of the regent Sosibius, shortly after her son Ptolemy IV Philopator took the throne. | The Jerusalem Post
