sulla80
Salacia/Amphitrite
This week, we return to Rome with a (Crawford 399) denarius depicting Neptune and Amphitrite/Salacia. The time period a few years after...
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sulla80
- Mar 19
- 5 min
Mourning Saladin
This 1831 mezzotint print depicts the battle of Ascalon (circa CE 1192), with Richard I King of England, on a white charger, wielding an...
6 views
sulla80
- Mar 17
- 2 min
The Eretnid Beyliks
This Islamic coin captured my interest with it's unusual highlight of "Allah" in an eye shape with dots from the 14th century. It is a...
13 views
sulla80
- Mar 11
- 4 min
Coins from Ancient India
I have accumulated a few coins from ancient India. Today's post shares several and focuses on the Buddhist symbols on a particularly...
17 views
sulla80
- Feb 20
- 8 min
Proscribed by the Triumvirate
Today's post looks at another coin from the unraveling Roman Republic. This coin issued in 47 BC only a few years before the...
21 views
sulla80
- Feb 18
- 6 min
Fish in Love with Goats
Perhaps close to Valentine's day it is appropriate to begin with a love story between fish and goats. These passages from Oppian's...
27 views
sulla80
- Feb 5
- 7 min
Inflation, Debasement, and Politics
Inflation for the moment seems to be relaxing a bit, the price of gas, one of the more daily visible symbols, was $3.30 a gallon...
19 views
sulla80
- Jan 29
- 2 min
Coins of Medieval Kashmir
Page of the Rajatarangini in Sarada script (Public Domain Source: River of Kings, 1935) Having just returned (and still jet-lagged) from...
6 views
sulla80
- Jan 16
- 4 min
A Coin of Isinda
My coin of interest today is a rare civic issue of a small town from the time of the Roman civil wars, perhaps very near to the time of...
21 views
sulla80
- Jan 15
- 7 min
A Coin of Massalia
Marseille Greek Colony, P. Puvis de Chavannes, 1869, oil on canvas, commissioned in 1867 by the city of Marseille for the west wing of...
45 views
sulla80
- Jan 14
- 4 min
Fighting for Liberty
In 27 BC, the Roman Senate granted Octavian the title of "Augustus" and he became the first Roman Emperor, effectively ending the Roman...
13 views
sulla80
- Dec 31, 2022
- 2 min
Just Make it Fit!
Ruins of Nicopolis ad Istrum - public domain image via wikimedia commons. Novius Rufus was a legate (hypateon) or praeses (hegemon) of...
19 views
sulla80
- Dec 29, 2022
- 3 min
A Rose by any Name
The capital of Kazakhstan, Almaty (Алматы), formerly known as Alma Ata, has a name derived from the word Apple (Алма). "Apples,...
16 views
sulla80
- Dec 28, 2022
- 3 min
Which Ptolemy is this?
Roman republican denarii are pretty easy to attribute - for most types, there are lots of them, and there's been a lot of research...
26 views
sulla80
- Dec 27, 2022
- 7 min
Ludi Saeculares
My coins of interest today recognize the Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games). This post explores the origins from the time of the Roman...
26 views
sulla80
- Dec 12, 2022
- 8 min
A Bride from Kublai Khan
This small illustration of ringdoves in the tree trunk and lotus blossom incorporates the influence of Chinese naturalism. The text was...
52 views
sulla80
- Dec 10, 2022
- 7 min
Cassius, Conspirator
My coin of interest today was issued by Gaius Cassius Longinus not long before Mark Antony defeated him at Philippi where he committed...
32 views
sulla80
- Dec 3, 2022
- 4 min
Paying the Troops
These coin are not pretty by most standards, but they are interesting for the history they witnessed ~2100 years ago during the First...
29 views
sulla80
- Nov 26, 2022
- 4 min
The Road to Philippi
Both coins shared today are sometime labeled by auction houses as "castrensis moneta mint in Italy?". The description is one that...
24 views
sulla80
- Nov 23, 2022
- 8 min
Romans in Judaea
Ruins of Herod's Castle in Fortress Massada, Israel, used under license from Shutterstock. Vespasian and his sons used their success in...
26 views
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