Lost Cities Discovered on Coins

Discoveries of new archeological sites with treasures such as ancient coins often make their way onto the news, sparking the general public's interest in coins, other treasures, and history. The discoveries make us wonder what happened, how those coins got there, and what the owner’s life had been like. So what if these discoveries were a little reversed?

The Lithuanian Mint has an ongoing series bringing lost cities onto coins, letting people collect historical moments, places, and history in a unique way. The first coin in the series featured Palmyra, an ancient city in the middle of modern-day Syria. The treasures found at archaeological sites date back to the Neolithic period. The coin's reverse features the Monumental Arch, also known as the Arch of Triumph, an ornamental archway that opens to the city.

The newest edition to the series is a 5-dollar silver coin featuring Pompeii. The infamous story of the lost city is known by most. The thriving city was lost in a single day. Mount Vesuvius erupted in a catastrophic eruption, burying the city, as well as a few neighboring towns, in a layer of molten rock and ash. The event was so sudden that the people had no time to flee, making the archeological site a fascinating one since the people and their belongings became preserved in ash and rock. Historians are given a peek into the life of the people as they lived because they had been frozen in time. Now, the story has been immortalized on a stunning colorized coin. 

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