A metal detectorist discovered a 1,000-year-old gold coin depicting Jesus Christ while probing the mountains in the municipality of Vestri Slidr in southern Norway. This type of small coin, known as “nomis histamenon”, was first minted around 960 AD. On one side is Jesus holding a Bible, on the other side is Jesus II, two brothers who ruled the Byzantine Empire. Basil and VII. Constantine is depicted. the other according to the translated statement.

The Western half of the Roman Empire collapsed in 476, and the Byzantine or Eastern Roman Empire survived for another millennium.

Archaeologists believe the coin was minted between 977 and 1025, during the brothers’ reign, based on the three-dotted line surrounding the edge of the coin, a common design element at the time. The work also contains two inscriptions. According to the statement, the first one, written in Latin, reads “Jesus Christ, King of Monarchs”, while the second one, written in Greek, reads “Basil and Constantine, Roman emperors”.

However, researchers do not know how the coin fell onto the mountainside. They suggested that it may belong to Harald Hardrade, also known as Harald III, who ruled Norway from 1045 to 1066. Before becoming king, Harald III served as the Byzantine emperor’s bodyguard; According to the Miami Herald, the guards were often allowed to “ransack the palace after the emperor’s death.”

It is possible that the money was eventually used as a dowry for Harald III to marry the daughter of Prince Yaroslav of Kiev (also known as Yaroslav the Wise) in what is now Ukraine. It can also be used as a form of trading, according to the description.

Archaeologists plan to return to the mountainous area in 2024 to conduct more excavations. Source