Attributing Parthian coins to a king and time period, can be complicated. This coin, 30.16, is assigned by Sellwood to an Unknown King (II), and by Shore as 134 it is mapped to Orodes I , and Sear maps it to Gotarzes I , and Mitchiner to Mithradates II , and Wroth to Artabanus II , and Gardner, Plate II #9 , to Phraates II . So clearly there has been some discussion over the years about who this type belongs to. Aside from the question of “who” is on this coin, this Parthian

This story of the first diplomatic contact between Rome and Parthia, is illustrated with three coins. The story begins around 101 BC when the first coin, a Roman republican denarius, was minted in Rome by L Sentius. The obverse is one of several that declare that the coin is made from the state treasury: "ARGentum PVBlicum" is abbreviated on the obverse as ARG PVB. Why some issues declare this is not known. Sentius was brother to C Sentius Cf, praetor urbanus in 94, the seni

The coin shared today is a brockage of the Roman Republican denarius shown above. A brockage happens when a newly minted coin sticks to...

There are a few Roman republican coins with images of ships on them, here are two variants (control mark) of one of these coins: C....

Coins linked to Lucius Cornelius Sulla are one of the primary themes of my collection. The reverse on this coin references games that...

Asclepius (a.k.a. Aesculapius), son of Apollo and god of medicine, was one of the deities imported to Rome from the East. Asclepius was...

Coins related to the time of Lucius Cornelius Sulla have been a key theme in my collecting the past couple of years. Continuing from my previous post , Sulla went off to fight Mithridates after damaging the Roman republic with his attack on Rome and the senate. He reclaimed from Marius the right to lead Roman legions against Rome's formidable enemy: Mithridates. Mithridates, king of Pontus, seized Asia and put to death all Roman citizens in it. He was a man about whom one ca

Bankers' marks were a way to differentiate official coinage from counterfeit, and perhaps had other purposes that are lost (at least to...

In a previous post , I shared a coin from Brutus, that celebrated his family history of tyrannicide. This week, a much humbler coin, linked in time to an equally compelling story (and to Julius Caesar). This coin is an anonymous denarius which also has variants that are signed by Gargonius, Ogulnius and Vergilius . Anonymous issue , 86 BC, AR Denarius Obv: Laureate head of Apollo right, thunderbolt below, border of dots. Rev: Jupiter in quadriga right hurling thunderbolt, b

I was a little worried about the fragility of this coin when I bid on it and was pleasantly surprised see that, in hand, the flan crack...

The year 102 BC falls at the climax of the Cimbrian War (113–101 BC), one of the most dangerous military crises the Roman Republic had faced since Hannibal’s invasion a century earlier. Beginning around 113 BC, massive migrations of Germanic and Celtic peoples - principally the Cimbri, Teutones, and Ambrones - had swept southward from northern Europe, crushing Roman armies in a succession of catastrophic defeats. The Battle of Aurasio The Battle of Arausio in October 105 BC:

This coin struck me as unusual, and I couldn't decide which way was "up" - so I didn't hesitate to pick it up. All three images below are...

Technology over the ages in health and social media illustrated with Roman Republican coins. Roma: Tempio della Concordia al Foro Romano [Temple of Concord in the Roman Forum], Rome, Gelatin silver print, image public domain from the National Gallery of Scotland I am starting my blog with a post on a Roman Republican coin that I purchased a few years ago. So much of what could be found in ancient Rome has carried forward to the today from Roman roads to social media. Social m

This Italian "medalet", 20mm, 11h, 3.7g, by an unknown artist is from the 18th to early 19th century, apparently issued for the Grand...

This coin was issued near the end of the Roman republic and is an artifact of Mark Antony's alliance with Lepidus in the days before they...