While finding objects many hundreds of years old is not uncommon in the Jewish state, a recent discovery by archaeologists nonetheless stands out. The Times of Israel reports:

A rare, 1,850-year-old bronze coin depicting the Roman moon goddess Luna was recently found off the coast of Haifa, the Israel Antiques Authority (IAA) said Monday. The coin shows Luna above a depiction of the zodiac sign Cancer. On the other side of the coin is the head of the Roman emperor Antoninus Pius, during whose reign (138–161 CE) it was minted.

Like his predecessor Hadrian, Antoninus is known to historians of Rome as one of the “five good emperors” under whose watch there was little corruption or internecine disorder. But unlike Hadrian, who subjected the Jews to some of the bloodiest and most destructive persecution in the empire’s history, Antoninus secured a positive reputation in Jewish memory:

Antoninus’ reign was the quietest of the Roman empire, coming at the height of the period of the Pax Romana, or Roman peace, and Antoninus himself was not from the military, was never in battle, and never even left Rome.

“During his rule, the empire’s relations with the Jews were greatly improved, the [anti-Jewish] decrees of Hadrian were revoked, and Jews were allowed to practice circumcision,” the IAA said.

“These steps led to amicable relations between the emperor and Rabbi Judah the Prince,” the statement said, referring to the 2nd-century CE rabbinic leader who composed the Mishnah.

Early Friday morning, Israel attacked military installations near the Iranian cities of Isfahan and nearby Natanz, the latter being one of the hubs of the country’s nuclear program. Jerusalem is not taking credit for the attack, and none of the details are too certain, but it seems that the attack involved multiple drones, likely launched from within Iran, as well as one or more missiles fired from Syrian or Iraqi airspace. Strikes on Syrian radar systems shortly beforehand probably helped make the attack possible, and there were reportedly strikes on Iraq as well.

Iran itself is downplaying the attack, but the S-300 air-defense batteries in Isfahan appear to have been destroyed or damaged. This is a sophisticated Russian-made system positioned to protect the Natanz nuclear installation. In other words, Israel has demonstrated that Iran’s best technology can’t protect the country’s skies from the IDF. As Yossi Kuperwasser puts it, the attack, combined with the response to the assault on April 13,

clarified to the Iranians that whereas we [Israelis] are not as vulnerable as they thought, they are more vulnerable than they thought. They have difficulty hitting us, but we have no difficulty hitting them.

Nobody knows exactly how the operation was carried out. . . . It is good that a question mark hovers over . . . what exactly Israel did. Let’s keep them wondering. It is good for deniability and good for keeping the enemy uncertain.

The fact that we chose targets that were in the vicinity of a major nuclear facility but were linked to the Iranian missile and air forces was a good message. It communicated that we can reach other targets as well but, as we don’t want escalation, we chose targets nearby that were involved in the attack against Israel. I think it sends the message that if we want to, we can send a stronger message. Israel is not seeking escalation at the moment.