Late Roman, AD 330 - 335, marble sarcophagus depicting the four seasons at Dumbarton Oaks . I was pleased to add an unusual quadrans to...

Today's coin of interest was minted by Mazaeus who served as Satrap of Cilicia for Darius III of Persia and for Alexander III who...

The site of Kebren is located in the central area of the Troad, on the slopes of Çal Dağ, which translates to "mountain of shrubs", a weste

The Coronation of Ardashir-e Babakan, a Sasanian rock relief, carved circa CE 235, located in the east corner of Naqsh-e Rostam, in the modern Fars Province of Iran. Ardashir I receives his kingship ring from Ahura Mazda who appoints him Shahanshah (King of Kings) of Ērānshahr (Iran). Photo taken in 2018 by Wojciech Kocot, image used under CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons . Zoroastrianism In Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazda (also known as Ohrmazd in Middle Persian) is the supr

I can imagine that there are probably not a lot of individuals who are going to add a copy of T.J. Cornell 's The Fragments of the Roman...

The Saturnalia was perhaps the most popular of Roman holidays. Catullus wrote to his friend Calvus circa 57-54 BCE that is was "optimus dierum", the first of festivals. His note was in response to a Saturnalia gift that turned out the be a bit of a practical joke - Catullus was expecting quality poetry from his friend Calvus but was disappointed to find the book filled with the poor work of poetasters, meaning mediocre or untalented poets. (See: Commentary on Catullus ) "Gr

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 religion with Zeus. When is it appropriate to identify Serapis vs. Zeus-Serapis on a coin of Roman Egypt? Serapis has interesting roots in the wake of the death of Alexander the Great and the formative years of Ptolemaic Egypt. Egypt, Alexandria. Nero . AD 54-68. BI Tetradrachm, Dated RY 10 (AD 63/64). Obv: NEPΩ KΛAV KAIΣ ΣEB ΓEP, radia

Representation of Khutulun / Public Domain, Credit: Divulgação/Instagram 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 portrait of Kublai Khan was drawn in ink and colors on silk shortly after his death in 1294 by the artist Araniko  (1244–1306). Image public domain via Wikipedia Commons with additional information at the National Palace Museum in Taiwan . After the death of Tolui, Kubl

Manlius Torquatus Sentences His Son to Death, Alexandre-Romain Honnet, 1799, Paris, Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts, Public Domain Image. "The Torquati were a distinguished patrician family. Their cognomen derived, or so the story went,' from an incident in 36I B.C. when an ancestor of the house killed a Celt in a duel and despoiled him of his torque. Between 244 and 164 B.C. Manlii Torquati appear frequently in the consular fasti. Thereafter,they produced no more c

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 organize Notes and relevant coins against the outline of Sulla's life and major events. (138 BCE) Birth and Early Life Sulla was born into a patrician family, though initially of modest means, in Rome. The Gracchi Brothers and Social Reforms Gaius Marius The Galvano Boys The Right of Appeal Iberian Denarii Sulla's Uncle (or Grandfather ?) A Che

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...