The ring was discovered on Mount Carmel and is 1,800 years old, the Israel Antiquities Authority announced. It is engraved with the face of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and battle, known to the Greeks as Athena.
The ring is 1800 years old PHOTO: Israel Antiquities Authority
Yair Whiteson, 13, found the ring while hiking with his father in Haifa. The two were walking near an ancient quarry on Mount Carmel when Yair, who likes to collect interesting rocks and fossils, noticed a “small green object” on the ground, according to Lives Science.
“It was corroded and at first I thought it was just a rusty bolt. I thought about warming it, but then luckily I realized it was a ring. At home, I saw that he had a picture on him. At first glance, I thought he was a warrior,” said the teenager.
His family contacted the Israel Antiquities Authority, which then transferred the artifact to Israel’s Department of National Treasures.
The small ring likely belonged to a woman or girl from the late Roman period (2nd-3rd centuries AD), the researchers said. It was found in Khirbet Shalala, an archaeological site located on a hill near the quarry that contains the remains of a farm from the Roman period.
The ring, which appears to be made of bronze, depicts Minerva, the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Athena, wearing only a helmet.
Minerva, who was popular in the region during the Roman period, was “considered, among other things, the goddess of war and military strategy, as well as the goddess of wisdom”, said Nir Distelfeld, inspector at the Theft Prevention Unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), and Eitan Klein, of the IAA’s Antiquities Theft Prevention Unit.
