City under siege hid stash of gold coins 1,300 years ago. It was just found in Israel

A stash of gold coins — hidden for over 1,300 years — has been rediscovered in Israel, according to archaeologists.

It’s 635 C.E.; Muslim conquerors are attacking the Byzantine Empire’s city Banias. Someone fleeing the siege stopped to hide a fortune of gold coins, “hoping to later retrieve his property,” experts told the Friends of the Israel Antiquities Authority in a news release on Oct. 3.

But the owner never came back, experts said.

Archaeologists, however, did come back to the ancient city of Banias, now a nature reserve, the Israel Antiquities Authority said in an Oct. 3 news release.

The fortune — 44 gold coins weighing about 5 ounces — was rediscovered at the base of a stone wall, experts said.

Analysis of the coins revealed when they were minted and who minted them, experts said.

The oldest coins date to a Byzantine emperor who ruled beginning in 602 C.E., a currency historian said. The most recent coins date to the last year the Byzantine empire controlled Banias, the fateful year of 635 C.E.

Banias was originally named Paneas by the ancient Greeks. “According to Christian tradition, Banias gained fame as the place where the Apostle Peter proclaimed Jesus to be the Christ, and Jesus gave Peter the keys of the kingdom of heaven,” the release said.

Now part of the Hermon Stream Nature Reserve, excavations at the Banias archaeological site have uncovered the ruins of buildings, pipes, and water channels, a pottery kiln, and fragments of other artifacts, such as pottery, glass, and metal, experts said.

The Hermon Stream Nature Reserve is about 115 miles northeast of Tel Aviv.

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