They are brass. Gold does not corrode like that, and does not turn green like that. A gold coin buried in the ground for 1800 years looks basically as shiny and new as when it was lost; a quick wash of loose dirt off and it's as good as new.
And yes, the ancient Greeks and Romans knew how to make brass. Even though they had not discovered the separate metallic element we call zinc (which we need to produce brass today), they had discovered that adding calomine to molten bronze created a golden-yellow alloy which they called "orichalcum".
Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise, you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite. - C. S. Lewis
Thanks for the information. Yes I suspected they were brass. Just dreaming they were gold. But that's impressive they learnt how to make brass back then. THey're nice large weighty coins.
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