On my way to India this past week, I had a short layover in Athens. Sadly, on this trip, I only saw the Athens airport, where I picked up...

One of my sub-collections is a set of coins of the Seleucid kings. This collection is a mix of bronze and silver coins that is now up to...

Saladin, Sultan of Egypt, had conquered Jerusalem in AD 1187. Pope Innocent III launched the Fourth Crusade in AD 1202 with the goal of ...

Today's coin of interest comes from the reign of Hadrian (CE 117 to 138). This coin is issued in the name of his wife Sabina, from...

This AR (silver) tetradrachm is from Abydos in Troas, northwestern Turkiye, on the coast at the narrowest point of the Hellespont....

2023 has been a year with many ups and downs - and a surprisingly good year for coins. Although I did add several Roman Republican...

My primary collection centers on the lifetime of Sulla and his reign as consul and dictator in Rome. Today's coin of interest falls in...

Having failed to capture or kill Mithridates of Pontus, Lucullus lost credibility with the Senate and his troops. He was replaced by...

My coin of interest today is one of few coins, that I have, issued in the name of a reigning Queen (βασίλισσα). The AE coin also appears...

This week's post assembles relevant coins from Macedonia with answers to a quiz. Kings of Macedon, Alexander III 'the Great' (336-323...

Livy in mentions Phalanna in his account of the Third Macedonian War against the Romans (171–168 BC). After four days attacking and...

Tyre is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. One of the best known episodes in Tyrian history is the resistance...

While the history is for me usually the draw, a first impression of the portrait and provenance are the reason that I now own this coin....

A couple of years ago I posted a set of Roman republican denarii showing the 12 Olympians . The twelve Olympians were the major deities...

Perhaps it is not surprising in these notes pages that Lais of Corinth attracted my interest because of the reverse of an ancient coin....

Boeotia provides an early example of representative and federated democracy. "Ancient democracies and federations of states" is a theme...

An event during Alexander the Great's conquest of the Achaemenid Empire is potentially depicted on the reverse of my coin today, with a...

In response to several requests, today's post provides an entry point to other notes on this site. There are many coins that a collector...

Muscle cuirass Lanuvium c. 475 BC This coin weighs in at 0.49g, about half weight of the last small coin that I posted and about the...

Although countermarked Byzantine coins are not usually something I seek out, I couldn't resist this one. It was described in the auction...