Teen finds 1,800-year-old ring depicting a Roman goddess (3 photos)

A 13-year-old Israeli accidentally discovered a 2,000-year-old piece of jewelry depicting Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and war. Yair Whiteson was walking with his father near an ancient quarry near Mount Carmel when he noticed a green object.





“I saw a small green object and picked it up,” the teenager said. “It was rusty, and I thought it was just a rusty bolt.”

“At first I wanted to heat it up, but then, fortunately, I saw the ring. Already at home I saw an image on it.”

Inspector Nir Distelfeld and Dr. Eitan Klein from the anti-theft department of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) said the ancient jewelry depicts Minerva, the Roman equivalent of the Greek goddess Athena.

“The perfectly preserved ring depicts a naked figure in a helmet. She holds a shield in one hand and a spear in the other,” experts say.



The IAA estimates that the bronze ring is about 1,800 years old and came to Israel in the late Roman period. In that era, Minerva was especially revered in Israel, as she was called the goddess of war and wisdom.

The item could have belonged either to a woman who lived on a Roman farm near Mount Carmel, or to a quarry worker.

It is also likely that the ring could have been a funeral offering.



Yair presented the find to scientists, who gave his family a tour of the Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus of Israel Archeology in Jerusalem.