Amazing Gold Coin Older Than Christ Found In Israel, Is There A Dragon On The Coin?

Hello all,

Just something interesting i came across.

www.aolnews.com...

Its a truely brilliant find but cant understand the dragon on the reverse side of the coin, what does it symbolise?

the only thing it says about the reverse side is..

two overlapping cornucopias decorated with fillets

Nothing there about a dragon.

anyway... what do you all think about this?



[edit on 07/14/2010 by AlphaANDOmega]

[edit on 07/14/2010 by AlphaANDOmega]

Its beautifully decorated, the mint sure is advance, able to produce such delicate designs.

Its so strikingly similar to modern counterpart. I guess we dont progress much.

Originally posted by AlphaANDOmega
the only thing it says about the reverse side is..

two overlapping cornucopias decorated with fillets

Nothing there about a dragon.

What you're seeing as a dragon is a cornucopia, a horn looking thing usually filled with fruits... it denotes abundance. It's seen a lot at Thanksgiving. Here's pictures of cornucopias.

reply to post by Iamonlyhuman


I know what a cornucopias is... But its clearly two things merged into one, cornucopias merged into a dragon, you can see the head of the dragon at the botton of the coin, on the small tip of the cornucopias.

reply to post by RainCloud


Thats a point worth making! 2,200 years old... yet our coins today strike a very similar tradition.. with the silhouette and dotted pattern around the rim.

[edit on 07/14/2010 by AlphaANDOmega]

what would something like that be worth being that old

reply to post by AlphaANDOmega


Yep that what make it interesting, its not a normal coin, its a commemorative coin or maybe a bullion or perhaps a medal.

The detail is very advance, most probably carved, gold casting kinda too advance since it have both faces, but who knows.

It brought up another question, why was it lost ? Precious metal usually not lost, unless a catastrophe/disaster.

Originally posted by AlphaANDOmega
you can see the head of the dragon at the botton of the coin, on the small tip of the cornucopias.

For the Egyptians, the source of ferrtility was the Nile.
So if there really is a head there, and it's not just in our imaginations, maybe it relates to a personification of the Nile. Crocodile?

Ezekiel calls Pharaoh "the great dragon that lies in the midst of his streams"- Ezekiel ch29 v3.

REPLY TO ALL

Interesting!
I thought myself, that theres more to this coin than meets the eye. It must have a very interesting story behined it that has yet to be found.

I feel almost certain that the cornucopia is also a dragon/lizard, i have no evidence behined it but it looks like to me.. by mixing the cornucopia with a dragon it symbolises maybe.. wealth and protection or nurture and strength... something like that.. or if you realy jump the gun.. dragon/god worship and reward.



Dragons before Christ.


www.straight-talk.net...

www.mysteriousbritain.co.uk...

en.wikipedia.org...

dragonsinn.net...

To answer several questions at once:

* the "dragon head" is actually the leaf/stem of the gourd. You don't see it in modern basket cornucopias but you do see it in older examples where the cornucopia is based on the gourd. See this example from Victorian England:
www.harvington.org.uk...

Wear will make them look like "entwined wolf heads" or dragons:
www.ancientcoins.biz...

You can see the stem more clearly on this image of a household god (a "lar") with the cornucopia:
www.corbisimages.com...

* Yes, these coins are commemorative. Most people bartered goods though coinage was in use. When a ruler conquered a nation or took over leadership, he/she/they (man and wife) would issue coins with the image of their face and a god they were associated with. Anthony and Cleopatra issued coins in the lands they conquered showing him as Dionysus and her as Ceres (both gods of prosperity)
* Queen Asinoe was the wife of Ptolemy II and they were the second Greek rulers of the Ptolemy dynasty that took over after Alexander the Great conqered Artaxerxes II (Egypt had been conquered by the Persians (who had been trying to keep the people from starting a revolution after they took it over)). Anyway, this is why the face on the coin is Greek with Greek hairstyles. Only the notorious last Cleopatra (Cleopatra VII) had images of herself as an Egyptian goddess.

Fascinating stuff, really, and the coin is lovely.

reply to post by donkey77


Its weight in gold perhaps.
It would be slightly more being a numismatic coin I suppose.

reply to post by Byrd


Interesting History lesson!!! Thank you Mod Byrd, I learned something new.

Im still not convinced its not a dragons head tho, because there are two more cornucopia's iver side of the center cornucopia that apear to form arms.. perhaps the stem represents a dragons head if you open your mind to both our idea's/fact's.

Left & Right Cornucopia = Arms
Center Cornucopia = Body
Stem = Dragons Head
?

Very cool find OP! I can't believe how good the condition of that coin is wow... And yes I see the "dragon" as well as the confirmed cornucopia and stem.

reply to post by Solar.Absolution


The condition is remarkable, i was truely amazed.
I expected to see another coin that looked like a drain lid.

Gold doesnt tarnish like baser metals
Its always well....gold.....The coin was not poured in molten form, i dont think...it was squished into a harder metal mold of both sides.
A blank round gets each face impressed into it simultaneously.
Thats why they use the term "struck" when referring to coin manufacture.
I am thinkin this is somebodys rainy day "Thousand dollar bill" they stashed when some maruading assyrians happened by the neighbourhood.
Perhaps decappitating the owner in passing, leaving the coin in the wall for millenia.
Whatever it is, i am sure the story of this coin would be interesting to know...
(Maybe it was brought out of egypt at the time of the exodus?)
I seem to recall the egytians giving the jews gold to take along???
There was plenty to build a golden calf with out in the sinai.....


[edit on 15-8-2010 by stirling]

What an incredible find,and beauty of a coin.

I always find it awesome to see old kings/queens on old coins.
I imagine that one day someone in the year 4000 some hopefully very enlightened folks will dig up our coins and buildings...
What a headache that will give them!

Great thread.S/F

Originally posted by RainCloud

It brought up another question, why was it lost ? Precious metal usually not lost, unless a catastrophe/disaster.

There have been lots of catastrophes and disasters in that part of the world over the last 2,000 years.

Originally posted by stirling
Gold doesnt tarnish like baser metals
Its always well....gold.....The coin was not poured in molten form, i dont think...it was squished into a harder metal mold of both sides.
A blank round gets each face impressed into it simultaneously.
Thats why they use the term "struck" when referring to coin manufacture.

Yep, coins were struck long before the estimated date of this coin.

Aristotle (who lived 150 years before this coin was made) wrote about it.

This website explains how it was done.

Harte

It is amazing how old the art of striking a coin is, and after thousands of years we are finally moving on to a point in which carrying physical is almost unneeded. I myself only use physical currency at vending machines, restaurants and stores that do not yet accept debit/credit cards, which around me are very few. I can almost imagine a time in which the coin is almost no value accept to collectors and the like.

It would be interesting to go from thousands of years of physical currency use to entrusting that your electronic balance in your account will not be hacked.

personally i do see what appears to be a 3 headed serpent of some sort, if you tilt the screen 90 degrees to the right it appears the two small extensions on the side of the main serpent to be heads of some sort, im thinking it could be a medal or ancient crest of some sort.