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United Tribes of Gaul
Eventually this post will reach two denarii that were issued to commemorate Julius Caesar's victories in the Gallic Wars with Celtic...

sulla80
Feb 12, 20226 min read
141 views


Perfect, Rare or Beautiful?
This post starts with a few thoughts on the ingredients that make up an attractive ancient coin and will eventually get to a coin of...

sulla80
Feb 5, 20226 min read
87 views


A Paeonian Tetradrachm
An event during Alexander the Great's conquest of the Achaemenid Empire is potentially depicted on the reverse of my coin today. However,...

sulla80
Jan 29, 20228 min read
305 views


Nero Returns
The featured coin today is a tetradrachm of Nero from Antioch. It is dated by both the regnal Year of Nero (RY 8) and by a Caesarean Era...

sulla80
Jan 29, 20225 min read
84 views


Trajan Aims for Parthia
At the end of the reign of Rabbel II, King of Nabatea (78-106 AD), in 106 AD, Trajan annexed his kingdom and created the Roman province...

sulla80
Jan 22, 20223 min read
101 views


Lepidus as Moneyer
There is no better illustration of the cursus honorem, the political career ladder in the Roman republic, than a coin from a moneyer who...

sulla80
Jan 15, 20224 min read
150 views


Lysimachos, Pergamon and Cistophori
I have been slowly adding Cistophoric tetradrachms from various cities in Asia minor, and today was looking back at one of my first posts...

sulla80
Jan 15, 20229 min read
229 views


New Beginnings & Ancient Symbols
It is a new year, 2022! Appropriately, today's post opens with new beginnings and Aeneas arriving from Troy to the shores of Italy and...

sulla80
Jan 1, 20225 min read
94 views


Coins to Rebuild Apameia
After wandering a bit into medieval Islamic coins and the Mongol khans of the 13th and 14th century, I inevitably return to 1st century...

sulla80
Dec 31, 20215 min read
57 views


Parthian Invasion, 40 BC
The Parthians are mostly known from the writings of their Greek and Roman enemies - not the writers you would trust to document...

sulla80
Dec 24, 20219 min read
171 views


Coins of the Silk Road
Today's post shares more coins than usual. All of these coins are linked to the Mongol khans. Perhaps the best known Mongol leader is...

sulla80
Dec 18, 20217 min read
884 views


A Chemistry Experiment
Public Domain Image published by Chez le citoyen Mirys in Paris, 1799 This coin interested me for several reasons : the link to the time...

sulla80
Dec 5, 20215 min read
123 views


The Chariot of Victory
Public Domain Image, etching "Aurora" by Guido Reni 1886 In 1637, Francescus Junius published "De Pictvra Vetervm Libri Tres" (Of Ancient...

sulla80
Dec 4, 20213 min read
38 views


Low Cost LRBs
While one can spend thousands of dollars on a popular, beautiful ancient coin, you can also get an interesting coin for under $5. LRB is...

sulla80
Nov 24, 20212 min read
63 views


Top 10 Ancients for 2021
Next week is Thanksgiving, and I am looking forward to the family gathering and a return to Thanksgiving traditions that we missed last...

sulla80
Nov 20, 20217 min read
72 views


Ancient artwork
This week I am adding an extra "Note" commemorating 3 years of "Notes on Ancient Coins" and post number 160. The photos celebrate the...

sulla80
Nov 7, 20212 min read
42 views


The Right of Appeal
"Paul replied, “I am standing before the judgment seat of Caesar, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as...

sulla80
Nov 5, 20215 min read
131 views


Rats in Rome
“There are many rats depicted on ancient coins, this one has an actual rat.” - Frank Robinson, ancient coin dealer, in one of his online...

sulla80
Oct 30, 20217 min read
254 views


Dirhams, Sultans, Crusaders and the Pope
Today's post wanders into the middle ages during the time of the crusades. The crusades were a series of wars between Christians and...

sulla80
Oct 23, 20218 min read
533 views


First, Greatest and Most Beautiful
"The site of the Cilician city known during the period of the Roman Empire as Caesarea, Caesarea by Anazarbus, or Anazarbus , is some 28...

sulla80
Oct 17, 20213 min read
61 views
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