Rare 2,100-year-old gold coin bears name of obscure ruler from pre-Roman Britain
Rare 2,100-year-old gold coin bears name of obscure ruler from pre-Roman Britain
A rare gold coin found by a metal detectorist and recently auctioned off was minted by a little-known ruler in pre-Roman Britain.
A gold coin minted by a little-known ruler in ancient Britain — an Iron Age man who said he was as "mighty" as a god — has been found by a metal detectorist and auctioned off in England.
The rare coin was discovered in March 2023 in Hampshire county and was auctioned Sept. 28 for 20,400 British pounds ($24,720), Spink auction house said in a series of statements.
A Latin alphabetic inscription on the coin bears the name "Esunertos," which can be translated as "mighty as the god Esos," (also spelled Esus) the statements said.
The name itself is Gaulish, a language commonly spoken in the region at the time, John Sills, an archaeologist at the University of Oxford's Institute of Archaeology who examined the coin before it was auctioned, told Live Science in an email.
The coin dates to sometime between 50 B.C. and 30 B.C., a time after Julius Caesar invaded Britain twice around 55 B.C. to 54 B.C., the statement said. Caesar's invasions failed to establish permanent Roman control over Britain. It wasn't until after another Roman invasion, launched in A.D. 43 by Emperor Claudius, that the Roman Empire managed to gain long-term control over part of the island.
It's a fascinating glimpse into the last days of Celtic Britain. My Y DNA is Gaulish, so I take a bit of an interest in the topic, even if it's unclear quite when my distant paternal ancestors arrived in the British Isles.