Archaeologists Baffled as Roman Coins Discovered in Ruins of Japanese Castle

Archaeologists have been carrying out excavations at Katsuren castle since 2013. © wochit News / YouTube

The first-ever discovery of ancient Roman artifacts in Japan has perplexed archaeologists who are searching for answers as to how the coins ended up on Okinawa Island.

Uruma city’s board of education announced the discovery beneath the ruins of Katsuren Castle this week saying the coins are believed to date back to the the third or fourth century, Asahi reports.

Archaeologists working on the site originally wondered if the coins were left there by tourists as a hoax but Toshio Tsukamoto, a researcher from the Gangoji Temple Cultural Properties Department, recognised the coins straight away.

"I'd come to analyze artifacts like Japanese samurai armor that had been found there when I spotted the coins," Tsukamoto, told CNN. "I'd been on excavation sites in Egypt and Italy and had seen a lot of Roman coins before, so I recognized them immediately."

The coins have eroded over time leaving the designs very difficult to decipher, however X-ray analysis revealed an image of Constantine I, who ruled Rome from 324 to 337 AD, and a soldier holding a spear.

The age of the artifacts only deepens the mystery as the construction of Katsuren Castle, a UNESCO World Heritage site, didn’t get underway until the 13th century.

Further excavations on the site uncovered six other coins which date back to the Ottoman Empire in the late 17th century.

Okinawa had a thriving trade with southeast Asia and China between the 14th and 16th centuries and Katsuren Castle was an important center of commerce during that time. The Uruma Board of Education described the coins as “precious historical material suggesting a link between Okinawa and the Western world,”The Japan Times reports.

It is quite reasonable to expect Roman coins to reach Japan in the late 17th or early 18th century. Vasco Da Gama first reached India in 1497 or 1498 opening trade between Europe and the subcontinent, and European exploration of southeast Asia began in the next century. But oriental merchants had been trading with northeast Africa, including Egypt, as well as in the Persian Gulf long before Da Gama.

It would have been a remarkable accomplishment if Japanese sailors had sailed through Malacca Strait, rounded India, and reached the Red Sea more than a thousand years earlier. The feat would be akin to the Vikings reaching Newfoundland some 600 or 700 years later and 500 years before Columbus or Da Gama.

"It is a strange and interesting find. We don't think that there is a direct link between the Roman empire and Katsuren castle, but the discovery confirms how this region had trade relations with the rest of Asia," a spokesperson from the board of education said to CNN.

    Okinawa, Japan

Greek Officials Say Reading of Koran at Sacred Turkish Landmark 'Incomprehensible'

By Doug G. Ware
ISTANBUL, Turkey, June 7 (UPI) -- Greek foreign affairs ministry officials expressed opposition and disappointment in the Turkish government this week, for its allowing the reading of prayers from the Koran at a former religious landmark that remains sacred to both Christians and Muslims.


Turkey's Hagia Sophia museum, a UNESCO world heritage site since 1985, was formerly a Christian church, a Greek Orthodox cathedral and Imperial Ottoman mosque before it became a secular museum in 1935. The landmark is recognizable around the world for its iconic dome and unique architecture. File Photo by Mehmet Cetin/Shutterstock

The first prayer was read at Istanbul's Hagia Sophia, a former Byzantine cathedral, on Monday to mark the start of the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. In addition to those in attendance, faithful throughout the heavily-Muslim nation also listened to the prayers via broadcast by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT).

As Hagia Sophia is considered a sacred site to many for its history, Greece's Ministry of Foreign Affairs responded to the prayer readings by saying they are inappropriate for such a revered and secular landmark.

"We condemn as regressive the Turkish authorities' announcement of the scheduling of a Koran reading in Hagia Sophia in Istanbul, on the occasion of Ramadan," the ministry said in a statement Monday.

"Obsessions, verging on bigotry, with Muslim rituals in a monument of world cultural heritage are incomprehensible and reveal a lack of respect for and connection with reality," the ministry added. "Such actions are not compatible with modern, democratic and secular societies"

Turkey is no longer a secular society. Erdogan is slowly turning it into his own private caliphate!

Another Greek politician said the prayers amount to "disrespect against Orthodox Christians across the world."

Did you really expect Erdogan to respect Christians?

Turkish officials, though, decided last month to allow the Muslim prayers and broadcasts at the site, which is now a heritage museum, until the end of the month.

"Since the United States are siding with the PKK [Kurdistan Workers' Party], and Germany has clung to the [Armenian] genocide lie, friendship has shifted," Samil Tayyar, a deputy for Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party, tweeted last week. "It's our turn. [Hagia] Sophia should be open for worship."

So, Christians will be allowed to worship there as well? The government's defence of the Ottoman slaughter of Armenians reveals the distance Erdogan has taken the country from Attaturk's secular vision of Turkey. That has been abandoned completely as Erdogan attempts to rebuild the Ottoman Empire with himself as Sultan.

Tayyar was referring to a resolution passed by Germany last week that considered mass killings of Americans (sic - Armenians) by Ottoman Turks in World War I a genocide. The declaration upset the Turkish government, which responded by recalling its ambassadors from Berlin.

Hagia Sophia, recognizable around the world for its large dome, was originally a Christian church and a Greek Orthodox cathedral centuries ago before it became an imperial mosque when the Ottoman Empire took power in the 15th century. It was turned into a secular museum in 1935 and designated a UNESCO world heritage site 50 years later.

Ramadan, a holy month of of fasting that commemorates the first revelation of the Koran to the Islamic prophet Muhammad, runs through July 5.