A real treasure has been discovered by divers off Caesarea in Israel. HEROD . The city of Caesarea in northern Israel is known to have been the royal capital of Herod I the Great. The place was then under Roman and Christian domination; it was an important site on the way to the crusades. Caesarea is home to many ruins from different eras. Near its coasts, many wrecks still remain unexplored. Last year, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) announced the discovery of 2,000 gold coins dated to the 9th to 11th centuries by divers, a real fortune that no doubt also came from a sinking ship. Today, on the same site, another treasure has been discovered. Once again it is amateur divers who are at the origin of this discovery. This time, however, they did not bring up gold coins but a whole lot of metal objects, many of which were bronze. Among them:a lamp decorated with the effigy of the god Sol, a figurine of the goddess of the Moon, a candle in the shape of the head of an African slave, numerous anchors and nearly ten kilos of coins agglomerated in two blocks having the shape of the pottery which contained them. All these coins date from the late Roman period, around 1600 years ago, minted in the image of Constantine, Emperor of the West (310-324 AD) then of the entire Roman Empire (324-337) and of Licinius Emperor of the East until 324, and defeated by Constantine at the Battle of Adrianople. The cargo probably belonged to a merchant ship that capsized while entering the port of Caesarea. It was destined for metal recycling shops according to Jacob Wand, director of the IAA's Marine Unit.
Discovery off Caesarea. Credit:IAA/Ren Feinstein/0404