Roman republican denarii are pretty easy to attribute - for most types, there are lots of them, and there's been a lot of research...

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

This small illustration of ringdoves in the tree trunk and lotus blossom incorporates the influence of Chinese naturalism. The text was...

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

These coin are not pretty by most standards, but they are interesting for the history they witnessed ~2100 years ago during the First Mithridatic War. When paying your soldiers, money should look like money. It doesn't hurt to put your face on it ensure people don't forget who paid them. It is can't hurt to link yourself with a great ruler and a god or goddess. The first two coins today were minted to fund Mithridates' war and his troops. The third was minted under Roman cont

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...

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

Wandering again from Sulla, and the Roman republic, I stumbled on a debate amongst botanists about Tiberius' favorite food. The ancient...

This week a short post to share this coin - a rare and unusually well preserved tetradrachm from Gallienus' 15th and final regnal year....

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

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

These notes were originally written for the tetradrachm from Antioch, that is found at the end of this text, with a fabulous Tyche. The...

The arrival of an Alexandrian Tetradrachm of Commodus led to a deep dive into the life of Commodus and his coins. Commodus was the son of...

The Roman republic of the first century BC is my home base for collecting. My latest AR denarius, from 83 BC, was issued by Gaius...

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....

In an earlier post (Sept 15, 2020), I shared two Roman Imperial denarii of Vespasian from Ephesus. I have since added two more of these...

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