Archaeologists Discover a Jesus Christ-Representing Silver Coin While Excavating a Fortress
While excavating a stronghold in Bulgaria, archaeologists came across a coin that had a picture of Jesus Christ.
A picture shows the coin discovered in Bulgaria, that used to belong King Stefan Uros II Milutin
According to a news statement from the Burgas Museum, archaeologists from Rome, Italy, discovered the mystery silver penny while excavating the medieval Bulgarian city of Rusokastro in the country's southeast.
They noticed it was the Serbian King Stefan Uros II Milutin, who ruled from 1282 to 1321, after giving it a closer look.
Jesus Christ is shown on one side of the coin, while St. Stephen, who is regarded as the first Christian martyr, is shown on the other.
It is a replica of the Venetian matapan, which the Burgas Museum stated in a news release as being the "most stable currency in the Balkans at the end of the 13th and the beginning of the 14th centuries."
The reason for this was "their weight and the high quality of silver."
According to the press release, these coins typically symbolized St. Mark, Venice's patron saint, and the Doge, the head of the Venetian Republic.
One of the most influential kings of Serbia throughout the Middle Ages was King Stefan Uros II Milutin. He was a renowned and well-known ruler at the time in Europe. He was notable for enlarging Serbia's borders into Bulgaria.
Because of this, Serbia as a whole "grew enormously" under his rule, "at the expense of not only Bulgarian, but also Byzantine lands north of Thessaloniki [today in Greece]."
He was recognized as a saint at the time, and many of his remains are now stored in the Saint Nedelya Church in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, according to the Burgas Museum.
During his lifetime, the king was married five times. According to a news release from the museum of Burgas, which is located on the Black Sea coast, one of his brides was the Bulgarian princess Anna Terter, who was the daughter of Bulgarian Tsar George I Terter.
The coin will provide crucial information about the historic city.
The coin is significant to archaeologists since Rusokastro, a medieval city, is where such a find was made for the first time. According to a statement from the Burgas Museum, it "expands the picture of the previously known coin circulation in the city.