Today's notes start from my latest coin, issued by the Islamic rulers of Bukhara, dating to the 8th century CE.

A Śivalinga as drawn by ChatGPT 4o Today's coins (20 of them) come with minimal descriptions of their era. This is a collection of...

This set of notes started from a discussion of "syncretism" and when or how Zeus and Serapis started to blend across Greco-Roman-Egyptian...

Kublai Khan (1215-1294), who was also called Emperor Shizu of the Yuan, was the son of Tolui, the youngest son of Genghis Khan. This...

Manlius Torquatus Sentences His Son to Death, Alexandre-Romain Honnet, 1799, Paris, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Public...

I was pleasantly surprised to discover the DPRR today (Digital Prosopography of the Roman Republic). I don't know how long it has been...

I have to admit that I am drawn to coins that are not popular and periods in history that are not well known. One current interest is...

The lifetime of Lucius Cornelius Sulla (138 - 78 BC) was the time period that initially inspired this website - this page begins to...

This week we look at a series of three coins from 91 BCE, near the start of the Social War or Marsic War. In this war, Sulla...

When is a coin ancient? and when medieval? and when modern? In my notes, I am often crossing these categories, although Roman Republic...

Paul the Apostle (2BC–64/65) stayed in Ephesus for about two and a half years from 53-56 BCE. In Acts 19.24-28 there is a story of Paul...

The coins that are the subject of these Notes are often thousands of years old, so it is perhaps not surprising that much is unchanged in...

The two sons left by Septimius Severus, Geta and Caracalla, both received the surname Antoninus, one from the army, the other from...

Detail from a 19th Century water color on paper depicting the court of Muhammad bin Tughluq. Accession Number XXIII-239 Salar Jung...

by Authority of the good People of these Colonies....these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States...

The curious type of the Hydria is taken from the παράσημον (insignia) of the City of Crannon. It was customary in the time of drought ...

Nerva was named by the Senate as emperor on the same day that Domitian which certainly opens suspicion that there was no shortage of plan...

"Now, as they talked on, a dog that lay there lifted up his muzzle, pricked his ears. . . It was Argos, long-enduring Odysseus’ dog he...

Ulpia Severina Augusta, wife of Emperor Aurelian is not named in ancient literature, however the Historia Augusta mentions her: Clothing...

"Better one sparrow in thy hand than a thousand on the wing" - Proverbs of Ahikar the Wise, 6th Century Assyria, #51