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700-year-old coins with the image of Jesus Christ found in Bulgaria (photo)

Bylim Olena

700-year-old coins with the image of Jesus Christ found in Bulgaria (photo)
A coin that is 700 years old

Archaeologists in the southeastern village of Rusokastro in Bulgaria have discovered a 700-year-old silver coin with the image of Jesus on one side and the Serbian king on the other.

According to the Burg Museum, one side depicts a seated Jesus Christ, and the other side shows the Serbian king Stefan Uroš II Milutin. He ruled Serbia from 1282 to 1321.

Silver penny with the image of Christ and King Stephen. Source: burgasmuseums.bg
Silver penny with the image of Christ and King Stephen. Source: burgasmuseums.bg

"The coin is a copy of Venetian pennies, which, due to their weight and high quality silver, were the most stable currency in the Balkans in the late 13th and early 14th centuries. However, they symbolize the Doge, in whose honor the coin was minted, and St. Mark, the patron saint of Venice," the museum said.

Read also: Scientists showed a shirt worn by children 1900 years ago (photo)

It is noted that Stefan Uroš II Milutin was a ruler who managed to expand Serbia geographically by conquering Bulgarian lands in Branićevo in the northwest and Macedonia in the southwest.

Silver penny with the image of Christ and King Stephen. Source: burgasmuseums.bg
Silver penny with the image of Christ and King Stephen. Source: burgasmuseums.bg

Under his rule, the kingdom of Serbia grew tremendously. Stefan was canonized as a saint, and his relics are kept in the Church of St. Sunday in Sofia.

King Stefan Uroš II Milutin was married five times, and one of his wives was the Bulgarian princess Anna Tarter, daughter of the Bulgarian king George I Tarter. One of his daughters, Anna Neda, was the first wife of Bulgarian Tsar Michael III Shishman Asen.

For archaeologists, the coin is important because it was discovered for the first time in the medieval city of Ruskastro.

Earlier in Spain, 6200-year-old shoes and 9500-year-old baskets were found in a bat cave.

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