Jerusalem: 1000-year-old gold coins
A small earthenware jug containing four pure gold coins dating back more than a thousand years (early Islamic period), discovered during archaeological excavations in Jerusalem.
According to Dr. Robert Kool, a numismatic expert at the Israel Antiquities Authority, “The coins were in excellent condition and were immediately identifiable even without cleaning. Two gold dinars were struck in Ramla during the reign of Caliph al-Mu’ti (946-974 CE) and his regional governor Abu Ali al-Qasim ibn al-Ishid Onujur (946-961 CE). The other gold coins were struck in Cairo by the Fatimid rulers al-Mu’izz (953-975 CE) and his successor al-Aziz (975-996 CE).“.
Dr. Cole added, “Four dinars was a considerable sum of money for most of the population, who lived in difficult circumstances at that time. It was equivalent to the monthly salary of a junior employee, or four months' wages for an average worker. In contrast, a small handful of officials and wealthy merchants in the city received enormous salaries and amassed vast fortunes. A senior treasury official could earn seven thousand gold dinars a month, and he also received additional income from his rural outskirts amounting to hundreds of thousands of gold dinars annually.”.
Quoted from the website Numismag
