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 Seleucid empire was crumbling at the end of the second century and the beginning of the first. My most recent coin, a Tetradrachm of Antiochos VIII Epiphanes, prompts me to revisit and rewrite these notes. The portrait of Antiochus VIII is fairly recognizable, and not surprisingly he had the nickname Grypos (Greek: Γρυπός, "hook-nose"). Befor

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 Marcus Aurelius and Faustina II. He was the third child and had a twin brother who died in 165 AD. He was educated by the scholars in the court of his father. "Marcus tried to educate Commodus by his own teaching and by that of the greatest and the best of men.In Greek literature he had Onesicrates as his teacher, in Latin, Antistius Capel

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 coins which I enjoy for their unusual portrait style and links to the early reign of Vespasian. The first with a reverse female portrait with turreted crown who looks like she could be Vespasian's sister. This coin is also interesting as it dates from the transition of power that took place in AD 69. These period of transition were often ch

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

Since I first wrote about this coin four years ago, this 2017 ANS book by William E. Metcalf has become one that I've frequently...

I was immediately taken with this early portrait of Faustina II on my latest coin of interest. The details of both jeweled hair on the ...

Have you ever asked yourself: who are the collectors that I am bidding against? A search in ACSearch turned up some interesting...

This article was originally issued in July 2021, as we celebrated the 4th, in the United States, and the American Declaration of...

The First Triumvirate was a powerful coalition between Julius Caesar, a young and charismatic populist, two more senior leaders who both...

This past week these notes pages tipped over 200 posts - which gives me an excuse to think about how to better organize these posts going...

When Attalus III died in the late spring or early summer of 133 BC, he bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans. This Early Cistophoric Coin...

August Signs I picked up this little coin mostly for the well executed scorpion. It is a little bronze weighing, 2.88mg and 13mm in...