A rare 2,500-year-old Cypriot coin was found on an Israeli beachtranslated

An extremely rare 2,500-year-old coin from ancient Cyprus has been found on a beach in Ashdod, Israel, in a discovery that archaeologists describe as unique for the country. According to a report by The Times of Israel, the coin was found by Avi Chaprak, deputy director of the Ashdod Municipality Beach Department, who was searching for lost items by bathers along the shore.

Chaprak, having previous experience with similar finds, realized the importance of the object and handed it over to the Israel Antiquities Service, as required by law.

The Agency's experts identified the find as an extremely rare silver-gilt siglos (siglos), which was minted in the ancient city of Salamis, in eastern Cyprus, in the mid-5th century BC, at a time when the island was under Persian rule.

The coin, weighing about 11 grams, initially gave the impression that it was made of solid silver. However, tests have shown that it is composed of base metal with a silver coating, a practice used in the Cypriot coinage of the time due to the lack of silver…