This coin honors a relative of the moneyer who was responsible for voting reforms. 63 BC was an eventful year with many familiar names: Lucullus and ally of Sulla and key general in the Third Mithridatic War, holds a triumph and retires. Pompey the Great is conquering in the East and will earn a third triumph in Rome after his return, in 61 AD. Marcus Tullius Cicero , foils the Cataline conspiracy , and is elected consul. Julius Caesar , the one of the Ides of March fame, i

The central figures in Raphael's fresco, "The School of Athens" are Plato and Aristotle. With gestures that reflect their body of work,...

My coin for today is an unusual tetradrachm of Parthia, from a few years after the end of the Roman republic and the beginning of the...

Elephants must have looked like mythical monsters to the Romans when they first encountered them in battles against King Pyrrhus of...

With an Antoninianus of Probus with Salus reverse I have completed a set of 6 coins with a hidden message. I first learned of this...

“The cistophorus, with its writhing serpents and over-elaborate ornamentation, is perhaps the ugliest coin in the Greek series....

Some of the most used reference books for ancient coins are not new. For Roman republican coins, RRC was published by Crawford in 1974 –...

One does not have to look far to see signs in Nîmes, France of the city's origins as a Roman colony. The crocodile chained to the palm...

This year I have explored the coins of Asia Minor or the Anatolian peninsula. Anatolia was named by the Greeks, anatolḗ means “sunrise"...

Bust of Cleopatra VII The mailman brought an interesting tetradrachm that highlights the detailed inspection that can be required to...

In 1237 CE, Ḡīāṯ-al-Dīn Kayḵosrow II became sultan when his father, Kayqubad I (1219-1237 CE), died. He would reign until his death in...

This year I have explored the coins of Asia Minor or the Anatolian peninsula. Anatolia from Greek Ἀνατολή, meaning "The East" is the...

Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi , by Joseph-Benoît Suvée (1795, Louvre), Public Domain image from the wikipedia. Cornelia was the...

While it is possible that one more coin might show up this year, it seems unlikely that I will displace any of the coins listed below, so...

This large Antiochus III Seleucid bronze, called "Denomination A" in SC (Houghton & Lorber) appears to be very rare and the best example...

Image: Emperor Probus, Abraham Bogaert, De Roomsche Monarchy , 1697 Today's coin of interest is a coin of Emperor Probus from AD 280. I...

Walters Art Gallery, Twelve Gods Relief, 1st Century BC - 1st Century AD (Public Domain Image) The twelve Olympians were the major...

Understanding ancient coins can sometimes get very contentious as those studying the coins disagree. One such battle arose over the coins...

Patriarch Nicholas Mystikos baptizes Constantine VII Porphyrogenitus from a 12th or 13th century illuminated manuscript known as the...

"Nile water had always played an important role in the cults of Sarapis-Osiris and Isis. Both he and Isis were believed to summon...