A tiny 2,200-year-old gold coin depicting Egyptian queen Berenice II has been found by archaeologists in Jerusalem.
One side of the coin bears a portrait of Queen Berenice II, with on the other is a cornucopia and two stars.
"We [have] only found 17 of these coins over the past 100 years," said Robert Kool of the Israel Antiquities Authority, in a video posted on YouTube. "It's a gorgeous coin."
It is thought to date to the reign of Queen Berenice II’s husband, Ptolemy III, who was the third ruler of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt, from 246BC to 221BC.
It was spotted in soil by archaeologist Rivka Langler in the City of David, an archaeological site in Jerusalem considered the oldest part of the city, where she had been working for two years.
"I was sifting the excavation soil when suddenly I saw something shiny," she said. "At first, I couldn't believe what I was seeing but within seconds I was running excitedly through the excavation site."
The coin bears the ancient Greek inscription Basileisses, meaning "of the Queen". The inscription suggests Berenice may have been a ruler in her own right, Mr Kool said.
"She was a queen of an area which was called Kirinyaka, today in eastern Libya,” he said. “When she married her cousin Ptolemy III, this area became part of this large and very, very important and rich Hellenistic kingdom. When her husband Ptolemy III invaded Syria, she took over as the regent of Egypt."
