JERUSALEM—A hiker in eastern Galilee discovered an ancient gold coin in the grass at an archaeological site and alerted officials at the Israel Antiquities Authority. “This coin, minted in Rome in A.D. 107, is rare on a global level. On the reverse we have the symbols of the Roman legions next to the name of the ruler Trajan, and on the obverse—instead of an image of the emperor Trajan, as was usually the case, there is the portrait of the emperor ‘Augustus Deified.’ This coin is part of a series of coins minted by Trajan as a tribute to the emperors that preceded him,” Danny Syon, senior numismatist at the Israel Antiquities Authority, said in a press release. The only other known coin like this one is housed in the British Museum. To read about Roman coins found in Britain, go to "Seaton Down Hoard," which was one of ARCHAEOLOGY's Top 10 Discoveries of 2014.
