Teen hiker finds 1,800-year-old ring with haunting image of Roman goddess: ‘Helmeted naked figure’

A 13-year-old boy hiking with his father near an Israeli quarry unearthed a nearly two-millennia-old ring engraved with the image of Minerva, the Roman goddess of wisdom and battle, officials said.

Yair Whiteson said he was out walking with his dad near the ancient quarry site on Mount Carmel National Park when the curious rock collector spotted a jade stone on the ground.

“While hiking, I noticed a small green item and picked it up,” Yair said in a statement. “It was corroded, and at first, I thought it was just a rusty bolt.

“I thought about heating it, but then, fortunately, I understood it was a ring,” he added. “At home, I saw an image on it. At first glance, I thought it was a warrior.”

Nir Distelfeld and Dr. Eitan Klein, from the Theft Prevention unit of the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA), said the teen’s guess was close to reality, as the ring depicted Minerva, Rome’s equivalent of the Greek goddess Athena.

“On this beautiful ring, preserved in its entirety, is the image of a helmeted naked figure. In one hand she holds a shield, and a spear in the other,” the experts said.

The IAA estimates that the ring, which appeared to be made of bronze, is about 1,800-years old and came to Israel during the Late Roman Period.

During that era, Distelfeld and Klein said that Minerva was an extremely popular figure in Israel as she was known as “the goddess of war and military strategy, and also as the goddess of wisdom.”

The experts believe that ring could have belonged to either a woman who lived on a Roman farmstead around Mount Carmel, or to a quarry worker who lost it while on the job.

There’s also the possibility that the ring may have been a burial offering to the nearby graves around the ancient site.

The ring, which was transferred to the National Treasures Department, will be put on display in Jerusalem’s Jay and Jeanie Schottenstein National Campus for the Archaeology of Israel.

Yair, who was commended for his good citizenship when alerting the IAA of the find, was given a private tour with his family of the ring’s future home.