The U.S. Naval War College in Newport Rhode Island teaches a Fleet Seminar Program for Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard officers of...

Although today's note will start with a trending TikTok theme, it will eventually lead to a Roman Republican denarius and the question of...

The Greeks & Romans had multiple of myths about fierce boars running wild. Wild boars were common in ancient Greece and they made worthy...

The Consualia was a harvest festival, held on August 21 (or 18). Consus, the name of the god, is from condere, “to store up.” The...

It doesn't take long browsing the notes on this site to see that degree to which my interests have strayed from the coins of the 1st cent...

Samnite soldiers depicted on a 4th Century BC frieze from Nola in the National Archaeological Museum of Naples via Wikimedia Commons...

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

On June 16th 2021, Public Law 17 from the 117th Congress established June 19th as "Juneteenth National Independence Day", a legal public...

Sewage systems have a long history. One ancient sewer from the Sumarian city Eshnunna in central Mesopotamia, consisted of brick sewers...

This week, we return to Rome with a (Crawford 399) denarius depicting Neptune and Amphitrite/Salacia. The time period a few years after...

Today's post looks at another coin from the unraveling Roman Republic. This coin issued in 47 BC only a few years before the assassination of Julius Caesar (Ides of March 44 BC) and in the midst of Caesar's civil war with Pompey's allies (49-45 BC). The coin comes with a story of the proscriptions under Mark Antony, Octavian, & Lepidus as the triumvirate they took control. The moneyer responsible for this coin (along with Cicero and hundreds or thousands of others) was on the

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 yesterday at a gas station near me, a big improvement from last summer when they spiked up to about $5. This, along with an article by Kevin Butcher, triggered thoughts about inflation, monetary policy, and politics. Admittedly this note wanders from anything directly relevant to ancient coins and into a sidetrack with wishful thinking for modern po

Marseille Greek Colony, P. Puvis de Chavannes, 1869, oil on canvas, commissioned in 1867 by the city of Marseille for the west wing of...

In 27 BC, the Roman Senate granted Octavian the title of "Augustus" and he became the first Roman Emperor, effectively ending the Roman...

My coins of interest today recognize the Ludi Saeculares (Secular Games). This post explores the origins from the time of the Roman...

My coin of interest today was issued by Gaius Cassius Longinus not long before Mark Antony defeated him at Philippi where he committed...

Both coins shared today are sometime labeled by auction houses as "castrensis moneta mint in Italy?". The description is one that...

Ruins of Herod's Castle in Fortress Massada, Israel, used under license from Shutterstock. Vespasian and his sons used their success in...

"CXXXII. The offering is to be made in this way: Offer to Jupiter Dapalis a cup of wine of any size you wish, observing the day as a...

The modern countries, bordering the Mediterranean, west of Egypt, in northern Africa (Algeria, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia)...