One of the caves at Tel Azekah. Photo Wikimedia Commons.
Posted on 05/20/2012 12:45:55 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Azekah was an important strategic Judahite border-stronghold during the turbulent times of the Assyrian and Babylonian invasions, which brought destruction on the kingdoms of Israel and Judah centuries before the time of Christ. The mighty Assyrian king Sennacherib called it "an eagle's nest...with towers that project to the sky like swords". The town continued to play a strategic role hundreds of years later during the Hasmonean period, as was evidenced by the the Bliss/Macalister excavations when they uncovered part of a massive fortress built by the Hasmonean king, John Hyrcanus 1.
Now, preliminary surveys conducted by a joint Israel-Germany excavation team in the area of the site have recovered a number of new tell-tale signs, including pottery shards and, interestingly, a silver Athenian Tetra Drachma coin which was used as universal currency in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE (very much like the dollar or the euro today). Heavy for its size, one side of the coin depicts a profile of Athena, the patron goddess of Athens. The other side depicts an owl, the goddess' symbol. Closer examination revealed that the core of the coin is actually made of bronze. The coin was only silver-plated, creating the illusion of pure silver. It could be an early example of a counterfeit coin.
(Excerpt) Read more at popular-archaeology.com ...
One of the caves at Tel Azekah. Photo Wikimedia Commons.
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I still cringe when they use BCE instead of Before Christ. It’s been Before Christ for at least 1700 years. F the political correctness! At least here on FR.
Or maybe they had their own version of the Federal Reserve?
Yes they did have fed reserve types. Waterered down precious metals and a far more familiar example. The famous “money-changers” provided 2 essential functions. (1) exchanging a visitor’s Roman coins (some of which bore images of emperors claiming to be divine or son of god, both unacceptable as Temple offerings) and (2) weighing coins to provide fair exchanges as precious metal coins were sometimes known to “shrink” (get shaved down by previous holders). Then of course there were the worthless (not backed) paper currencies tried at various times in Europe, England, Deseret, etcetera. No my friend, the fed and our Congress didn’t invent worthless funny-money or monetary “games”. There was a long history of such practice. (All eventually failing or leading to ruin)
...or, perhaps no one’s taken a good look at other surviving drachmas before this. :’)
Governments learned early how to debase their currency and thereby defraud their citizens.
Currency is currency; it’s always from the gov’t, irrespective of the type of gov’t (the first coinage is attributed to the Kingdom of Lydia), and it can’t be debased.
Speaking of coins, here’s a drachma from Gaza, saw it on FB just now, Shick Coins:
And an Athenian drachma, same source:
“BC” is a theological statement. Moreover, it is a false one. Jesus was born in 9 or 3 BC, if the Gospels are to be believed. Why it is proper or conservative to believe the dictats of the heirs to the Jesus Killers on the Roman throne is beyond me.
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