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

sulla80
Aug 24, 20246 min read


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

sulla80
Aug 22, 20244 min read


Clashes in Transoxiana
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...

sulla80
Aug 11, 20243 min read


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

sulla80
Aug 3, 20244 min read


Silenus-Silanus
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...

sulla80
Aug 3, 20246 min read


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

sulla80
Jul 28, 20243 min read


Temple of Artemis, Ephesus
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...

sulla80
Jul 27, 20245 min read


What's new in ancient coin collecting?
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...

sulla80
Jul 26, 20244 min read


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

sulla80
Jul 15, 20244 min read


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

sulla80
Jul 7, 20248 min read


July 4, 1776
by Authority of the good People of these Colonies....these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States...

sulla80
Jul 4, 20244 min read


Prayers for Rain
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 ...

sulla80
Jul 3, 20243 min read


Nerva: Succession & Reign
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...

sulla80
Jun 22, 20245 min read


Ulysses Returns
"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...

sulla80
Jun 19, 20247 min read


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

sulla80
Jun 16, 20244 min read


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

sulla80
Jun 9, 20244 min read


The Year of Six Emperors
"It so happened that the two men were not in complete accord: so great is the desire for sole rule and so contrary to the usual practice...

sulla80
Jun 8, 20244 min read


Greeks and Cattle
Humans have been making images of cattle for many millennia - this painting from Lascaux caves depicts aurochs (wild ancestors of...

sulla80
Jun 5, 20246 min read


Vikram Samvat Calendar
The Vikrama Samvat is a Hindu luni-solar calendar, which means it is based on both the phases of the moon and the solar year. It has...

sulla80
Jun 2, 20241 min read


De Peltae
My coin of interest today is a Roman Republican denarius from 103BC. The first one shown here was little used and well preserved from...

sulla80
May 23, 20245 min read
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