Greek wrestlers apparently had more than one move. "These staters which seemingly display only a pair of wrestling figures at first...

I am not expecting that most collectors look at this coin and say "Wow, that's a beautiful coin", I myself didn't have that reaction. I do see an intriguing coin and this is about a nice you can find in a 3rd century, billion (silver alloy, BI) stater from the Bosporus. The mystery of this coin is what attracted me. Bosporus Kingdom Some quick notes about the region over time. David McDonald's 2005 book on "History and Coinage of the Kingdom of Bosporos" from CNG is an excell

Today's coin is a fairly scarce issue from AD 353 which comes with interesting history of the years after Constantine the Great's death...

"It’s for each of us to decide whether to believe in one Homer or in many, in a blind bard or in a spirit that encapsulates the most...

If you look beneath the surface and consider what happened and what it felt like to the people who lived in these times, the environment in which our European ancestors lived must have been brutal and inhumane. The story of this hurried and inelegant series of denarii gives pause to reflect on the events of the time: could the Romans have reached a different outcome? Lessons from ancient Rome appear to me to be no less relevant, 2000 years later, to policy debates and our ind

Terrence was a former slave who became a famous playwright from the Roman republic. He wrote six comic plays in the mid 2nd century BC, then inexplicably disappeared circa 160 BC. All of his 6 plays have survived to today. Suetonius wrote a short biography, which primarily highlights the conflicting and varied stories about the author. Publius Terentius Afer, born at Carthage, was the slave at Rome of Terentius Lucanus, a senator, who because of the young man's talent and go

M. Aemilius Scaurus & M. Caecilius Metellus chosen as consuls in 638 AUC (ab urbe condita or 'from the founding of the City'). Image from...

A Roman republican denarius from a moneyer with a family name that traces to the legendary origins of Rome (7th century BC) and the...

During the time of Lucius Cornelius Sulla, Rome was already beginning to interfere in the governance of Egypt. Cicero references an unpublished agreement between Sulla and Alexander I (Ptolemy X) or II (Ptolemy XI) to bequeath Egypt to Rome. "What will become of Alexandria, and of all Egypt? How much it is out of sight! how completely is it hidden! how stealthily is it abandoned entirely to the decemvirs! For who is there among you who is ignorant that that kingdom has become

While this post will start in "modern" times with a "modern" coin, I will ask the reader's patience...eventually it will go back to...

After the death of Alexander the Great in June of 323 BC, his generals fought each other and divided up his empire. Seleukos I took the...

My coin of interest today is a Roman Republic denarius with a sphinx on the reverse, the style of the sphinx is similar to this 1st...

Since my first note (November 2020) on countermarks of Attic standard tetradrachms, I have added three more coins, so my notes needed some...

February 19, 197, the armies of Septimius Severus and Clodius Albinus clashed in Lugdunum (modern Lyon, France), and concluded the civil...

Perhaps it is not surprising in these notes pages that Lais of Corinth attracted my interest because of the reverse of an ancient coin....

Seleucid King Antiochus The Great (223-187 BC), expanded his empire by installing Artaxias as the governor (strategos) of Greater Armenia and Zariadres as governor of Sophene. Then when Antiochus was defeated by the Romans in 191 BC and shortly before the signing of the Treaty of Apamea in 188 BC, these two generals of Antiochus, turned to Rome and were recognized as independent kingdoms. "According to historians, Armenia, which was formerly a small country, was enlarged by A

The winged bull's head crown of this Nezak Shah is worth a closer look. These eastern neighbors to the Sasanians left behind many coins,...

According to this US Inflation Calculator , which must be good because it was ranked highest by Google, if I purchased a coin in 1978 for...

Boeotia provides an early example of representative and federated democracy. "Ancient democracies and federations of states" is a theme...

Some questions are best avoided. When faced with three beautiful coins, it seems that asking "Which is fairest?" is perhaps not a good...