For the first time, a gold coin featuring the Ptolemaic queen Berenice II of Egypt has been found in situ, more or less.

Technically, it was discovered while sifting archaeological material dug up from the "City of David" excavation under the former Givati parking lot in Jerusalem, of all places, the Israel Antiquities Authority revealed on Wednesday. So it hadn't been found exactly where it was dropped or lost, but its provenance is not in question.

According to the professional literature going back about a century, to date, about 20 coins showing Berenice, the wife of King Ptolemy III of Egypt, have been found, all in Egypt, says Robert Kool, head of the Numismatics Department at the IAA.

None of the Berenice coins had been reported beyond the Nilotic kingdom until today, and none of the rest had been found in their correct archaeological context insofar as is known, say Kool and Dr. Haim Gitler, chief curator of archaeology and numismatics curator at the Israel Museum.

It was identified as a quarter-drachma. One side shows Berenice as a queen, with the requisite tiara and veil, and wearing a necklace. The reverse shows a cornucopia flanked by two stars with the Greek inscription "of Queen Berenice." It had been minted in about 240 B.C.E. during the reign of Berenice's husband, her cousin Ptolemy III Euergetes (246–222 B.C.E.).

The monthly pay of a soldier was something like 2.5 silver drachmas, Kool says, and each drachma weighed 3.5 grams of silver. The Berenice coin, a mere "quarter drachma" would have been worth less than a soldier's monthly pay. He and the team surmise that the coin may have served as a reward to soldiers returning from the Third Syrian War, which pitted the two dominant Hellenistic powers at the time against each other: the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt and the Seleucid Kingdom of Syria.

To read the complete article, see:
Ancient Coin of Egypt's Queen Berenice Found in Jerusalem Excavations for the First Time(https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/2025-08-22/ty-article/ancient-coin-of-egypts-queen-berenice-found-in-jerusalem-excavations-for-the-first-time/00000198-cd08-d1d0-af9d-dfa9074e0000?)