An arched structure of access to the cavea of the Aigai theater. A canting type is a coin design that makes a pun on the name of the issuing authority, almost always a city, by depicting an object, animal, or plant whose Greek name sounds like (or is identical to) the city's name. The term "canting" is a modern name borrowed from heraldry, where "canting arms" (armes parlantes) do the same thing for a family name. Ancient visual puns: the city's name, spoken in pictures. You

Kaunian rock tombs near Kaunos (today Dalyan, Türkiye), carved directly into the cliff face around 400 BCE, their façades resembling temples, overlook the Calbys River (today the Dalyan River). The physical parameters of the coin (AR hemidrachm, 1.09 g) and its imagery: a helmeted head of Athena on the obverse; a short, sheathed sword, the city's ethnic, and a magistrate's name on the reverse, invite three immediate thoughts: It represents a self-governing Greek polis. It ref

"having received also from Hermes an adamantine sickle he (Perseus) flew to the ocean and caught the Gorgons asleep. They were Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa. Now Medusa alone was mortal; for that reason Perseus was sent to fetch her head. But the Gorgons had heads twined about with the scales of dragons, and great tusks like swine's, and brazen hands, and golden wings, by which they flew; and they turned to stone such as beheld them. So Perseus stood over them as they slept, an

This little 2.27g coin from Patrae was made quickly, in quantity, at a moment, around the middle 30s BCE, on the edge of the war that would end the Roman Republic. Achaia, Patrae; circa 35 BCE, AR Triobol or Hemidrachm (15mm, 2.27g, 6h), Damasias, son of Agesilaus, magistrate. (15 or 16 of these coins in ACSearch) Obv: Head of Aphrodite (with features of Cleopatra?), right, wearing stephane, earringand necklace, her hair bound in a bun at the back Rev: ΔA/MACIAC in two lines

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

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

Map of Lydia circa 50 AD on the western edge of modern Turkije showing Smyrna (red dot). Image Source: Caliniuc, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons . The Coin Today's coin of interest is a dichalkon. Everyday money. The head on the obverse has what Milne calls a "more angular pose" - Milne's group δ (delta) are the least refined coins from Smyrna's final autonomous period. The border is neater than the other dies of this group, and this coin has excellent details compared

Such is the cycle of political revolution, the course appointed by nature in which constitutions change, disappear, and finally return to the point from which they started. -Polybius, Histories, 6.9.10

Coma Berenices is one of the 88 IAU constellations . The name means "Berenice's hair" in Latin and refers to Queen Berenice II of Egypt who sacrificed her long hair in the name of love. Today's post, inspired by a coin from Ptolemaic Egypt and the reign of Ptolemy III, takes us to 246 BC. The story starts with Ptolemy III headed off to the Third Syrian War to avenge his sister, Berenice Syra. Kyrenaika, Kyrene. temp. Magas (father of Berenice II). Circa 294-275 BC. AR Did

It is said that there are three kinds of ancient coin collectors: Those who admit to having purchased fakes. Those who have purchased fakes and don’t admit it. Those who have purchased fakes and don’t know it.

Odessos (modern Varna, Bulgaria) began as a Milesian apoikia (colony) on an older Thracian settlement in the late 7th-early 6th century BCE and became a leading member of the Pontic Pentapolis, trading between the Aegean world and inland Thrace.

Seneca (writing 62-65 AD) classifies the thunderbolt alongside torches and shooting stars as "fire squeezed out of the air" (ignis aere expressus). He views them as transient, fleeting events caused by physical "defects" or pressures in the atmosphere rather than spontaneous divine whims.

By the 3rd century BC, the geopolitical landscape had fractured. Alexander the Great was dead, and his Successors (the Diadochi) were tearing his empire apart. In this chaos, the independent city-state (polis) was no longer enough to ensure survival.

This silver double shekel (23 mm; 15.78 g; die axis 2h) belongs to the Babylonian series conventionally known as the “Baal / lion” coinage, struck at Babylon...

Akragas was the last of the major Greek colonies established in Sicily, founded circa 580 BC by settlers from Gela, who were themselves of Rhodian and Cretan origin. Situated on the southern coast between the rivers Akragas and Hypsas, the city occupied a strategic plateau that offered natural defenses and access to fertile hinterlands. For the first century of its existence, Akragas grew wealthy on agriculture - olives, grapes, and grain - and the breeding of horses, for whi

The “Third Democracy” is a classification used for the coins of Syracuse. This is specifically applied to coinage struck under Timoleon (ca. 344-317 BC). Coins from this era are routinely labeled “Timoleon and the Third Democracy” in auction catalogs. It is probably worth noting that “Third Democracy” is a modern analytical label, not an ancient one. The term applied to this coin from Syracuse prompted today's exploration of the tyrants and democracies of Syracuse...

Today's coin comes with several interesting connections: Herakles shipwreaked on Kos and the imagery of this coin Herakles' Second Labor (The Hydra) and the imagery on the reverse A seventh wonder of the world - the tomb of Maussolus built during the time of this coin. Herakles Detail from Hercule et l'Hydre de Lerne, 1876, oil on canvas, Gustave Moreau( 1826–1898), Public domain, via Art Institute Chicago According to legend, Herkles was shipwrecked on Kos after the Trojan W

2025 has been a better than average year across the board. 2024 wrapped up with surgery and a year later I am fully recovered with a very low chance of recurrence. On the coin front, I sold more than 150 coins and didn't add very many. I may have been more selective in buying this year - opting for quality over quantity - but it also feels like there were fewer coins available that I was interested in. Still no shortage of nice coins added this year. There is a long list o

In the late fourth to early third century BC, amid the shifting alliances and hard-fought wars that would determine the destiny of southern Italy, the Greek city of Neapolis struck a series of silver nomoi whose beauty and symbolism remain among the most evocative of Magna Graecia. This coin preserves the identity of an independent Greek polis negotiating the rise of Roman power, preserving local myth, and asserting civic pride through images deeply rooted in Neapolitan memor

National Archaeological Museum of Naples. From Boscoreale, Villa of P. Fannius Synistor. Personifications of Macedonia (on the left) and Persia (or Asia, seated); or possibly a representation of the Macedonian ruler (see the circular shield with a star), or Antigonus Gonatas and his mother Phila. Public Domain image via Wikimedia Commons . According to Greek belief, Pan could cause irrational terror in humans and animals, especially when his midday rest was disturbed. His sud