A coin recently discovered in the ancient citadel known as the Tower of David bears, on one side, a depiction of Antiochus IV Epiphanes of Syria. Known today as an arch-persecutor of the Jews and as the villain of the Hanukkah story, he was overthrown in the Maccabean revolt. Yori Yalon writes:
No one expected that decades after the excavations at the Tower of David citadel wrapped up, new discoveries would still be made on the museum grounds. During routine cleaning and maintenance work at the site, the chief conservator Orna Cohen noticed a metal object among the stones of the Hasmonean Wall inside the citadel. A careful examination revealed that it was a bronze prutah, a coin that was in use over 2,000 years ago. . . .
Officials from the Tower of David noted that while there is no date on the coin, “we know that these coins were minted in Acre, which in that time was called Ptolemais, apparently between 172 and 168 BCE.”
Read more on Israel Hayom: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=38875