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The Apotheosis of Romulus
The official story is that Romulus was taken up to heaven. On the seventh of July, Romulus was conducting a public sacrifice outside the city, at a place called the Goat's Marsh with the senate and most of the people present. A sudden storm broke. The sky darkened, a cloud descended to the ground, and violent winds and rain scattered the crowd. When the weather cleared, Romulus was gone. He was never found, alive or dead.
sulla80
3 days ago5 min read


The Spartan Occupation of Thebes
In the winter of 379 BC, a small group of Theban exiles returned from Athens to a city held under Spartan occupation. Some entered Thebes under the guise of hunters; later that night, conspirators in women’s clothing entered a banquet and killed the pro-Spartan polemarchs. The coup ended the Spartan occupation of the Kadmeia and opened the way to Thebes’ brief but extraordinary ascendancy in Greece. This stater may belong to that world. The standard catalogue tradition dates
sulla80
May 38 min read


Later Odrysian Dynasts
Thrace, c. 187-72 BC Who were "the Odrysians" and what was there relationship to Macedonia? Seuthes III, King of Thrace, was active in the late fourth century BC and was among the last major Odrysian rulers recognizable as an independent Thracian king in the time period after Alexander the Great. He established a regional power base around Seuthopolis and issued bronze coinage. Computer rendering of the project to restore access to the ruins of Seuthopolis, rediscovered in th
sulla80
Apr 2912 min read


Byzantine: the uglier the better
Byzantine coins are an acquired taste. These are not the coins you put on display to impress your friends. This one in particular has no portrait, no triumphant emperor gazing out from a field of bronze. The obverse gives you a monogram: interlocked Greek letters folded into a hieroglyphic knot. The reverse gives you a large E and a small K. That is all. The Coin Byzantine Justin II (565-578 AD). Kyzikos AE Pentanummium Obv: Monogram of Justin II Rev: Large E, K in right f
sulla80
Apr 227 min read
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