It could be argued that the Roman Republic reached its peak in the second half of the 2nd century BCE. The final war with Carthage...

After Caesar's assassination (42 BC) as the triumvirate prepared to avenge his death, this denarius of C. Vibius Varus was issued.

2024 has had ups and downs - it seems that every year I start with same thought. This has been an unusual year with and earth quake,...

Augustus' refusal to celebrate personal triumphs after his triple triumph in 29 BCE cultivated imperial image and shifted power dynamics.

I can imagine that there are probably not a lot of individuals who are going to add a copy of T.J. Cornell 's The Fragments of the Roman...

Manlius Torquatus Sentences His Son to Death, Alexandre-Romain Honnet, 1799, Paris, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Public Domain Image. "The Torquati were a distinguished patrician family. Their cognomen derived, or so the story went,' from an incident in 36I B.C. when an ancestor of the house killed a Celt in a duel and despoiled him of his torque. Between 244 and 164 B.C. Manlii Torquati appear frequently in the consular fasti. Thereafter,they produced no more c

I was pleasantly surprised to discover the DPRR today (Digital Prosopography of the Roman Republic). I don't know how long it has been...

The lifetime of Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138 - 78 BC) was the time period that initially inspired this website - this page begins to organize Notes and relevant coins against the outline of Sulla's life and major events. (138 BCE) Birth and Early Life Sulla was born into a patrician family, though initially of modest means, in Rome. The Gracchi Brothers and Social Reforms Gaius Marius The Galvano Boys The Right of Appeal Iberian Denarii Sulla's Uncle (or Grandfather ?) A Che

This week we look at a series of three coins from 91 BCE, near the start of the Social War or Marsic War. In this war, Sulla...

When is a coin ancient? and when medieval? and when modern? In my notes, I am often crossing these categories, although Roman Republic...

by Authority of the good People of these Colonies....these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States...

"Now, as they talked on, a dog that lay there lifted up his muzzle, pricked his ears. . . It was Argos, long-enduring Odysseus’ dog he...

Humans have been making images of cattle for many millennia - this painting from Lascaux caves depicts aurochs (wild ancestors of domesticated cattle), horses and deer. The Magdalénien people of the Upper Paleolithic in western Europe that produced these paintings are estimated to have lived 12,000-17,000 years ago. Image from Prof. Saxx of a Lascaux cave painting, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons My latest ancient coin has a beautiful image of a bull facing on the obver

My coin of interest today is a Roman Republican denarius from 103BC. The first one shown here was little used and well preserved from...

Buying ancient coins can be particularly challenging for those just starting out. EBay is especially full of forgeries, copies,...

Where did the people of ancient Rome originate? How do we connect the varied myths of Rome's founding from Virgil's Aeneid to the...

This first coin was issued during the turbulent times of the Gracchi brothers, with unrest between the social reformers and the...

Emperor Claudius: When the moon gets in a direct line with the sun over our heads and passes under its blazing orb, it obscures the rays...

There are multiple versions of the story of Pandora. Hesiod, who is thought to have lived between 750 and 650 BC, describes the creation...

Voting with pebbles detail from an Attic Red-Figured Kylix, 490–480 BC, attributed to the Brygos Painter, active about 490 - 470 BC....