2000 Years of Coins
We are about half-way there with this project to fill in a coin from every half century between the 4th century BCE and the 19th century CE. Enjoy!
600-500 B.C.E.
Punch Marked Coin, Shakya Janapada (600-500 BC), Narhan Hoard type, Silver 5 Shana, Archaic period, Scyphate, Obv: a single bold punched symbol, additional marks everywhere around the field, Rev: uniface
The Shakya Republic (Shakya Janapada) was a small Himalayan gaṇa-saṅgha - an oligarchic clan-republic - whose capital at Kapilavastu lay on today’s Nepal-India border. Governed by an elected council of elders rather than a hereditary king, the Shakyas counted Śuddhodana, a “chief” chosen from their aristocracy, as one of their leaders. His son Siddhartha Gautama grew up there before renouncing worldly life to become the Buddha, hence his honorific “Śākyamuni,” the Sage of the Shakyas.
In the fifth century BCE the republic’s autonomy faded as the expanding kingdom of Kosala absorbed its territory, but its brief political experiment endures in Buddhist memory as the cradle of a transformative religious figure.
The image includes a painted gray schist figure of Shakyamuni Buddha from the ancient region of Gandhara, 3rd or 4th century BCE. Image from a Sotheby's Auction Catalog. This sculpture was once in the collection of Nasli Heeramaneck (1902-71), a leading connoisseur of Indian art.
350 - 300 B.C.E.
The Lokrians who issued this small 0.7g obol were Greeks who fought with Leonidas at the Battle of Thermopylae (480 BCE), and with Sparta in the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BCE). Obverse: ΛO-KP with an amphora and a small bunch of grapes and vine leaf hanging from the mouth of the vase. Reverse: Star of sixteen rays. This coin issued during the time when Macedonia was growing in power under King Philip II (359–336 BC) and subsequently his son Alexander III "the Great" (336-323).
The images is of Ajax taking Cassandra from the Temple of Athena during the sack of Troy, on the tondo of a red-figure kylix by the Kodros Painter, c. 440–430 BCE, in the Louvre. In the Illiad, this Ajax was one of the great Greek heroes who led forty ships against Troy. His act of sacrilege and his hubris angered the gods and in various myths he is killed by Athena or Poseidon.
350 - 300 B.C.E.
The coin is a drachm from Sardes in western Anatolia. Although uncrossed legs of Zeus (reverse) is often associated with lifetime issues of Alexander the Great, this AR drachm. struck under Menander or Kleitos, in the name and type of Alexander III, is an early posthumous issue circa 323-319 BCE, during the reign of Philip III Arrhidaios (323-317 BCE) as the pawn of Alexander's generals.
The painting is by Giuseppe Cades (1750–1799) "Alexander the Great Refuses to Take Water" from 1792 tempera and wax on canvas in the Hermitage Museum. Image source Wikipedia. The painting recalls a story from Plutarch Life of Alexander 42.5. Alexander after 11 days riding and weak from thirst refuses water with the words: "For," said he, "if I should drink of it alone, these horsemen of mine will be out of heart." His men declared that they would be neither weary, nor thirsty, nor mortals at all, so long as they had such a king.
300 - 250 B.C.E.
Kingdom of Macedon, Demetrios I Poliorketes, Æ 15mm. Uncertain mint, circa 298-295 BC.
Obv: Laureate head of Poseidon to right
Rev: Prow to right; BA above, bipennis before, AP monogram below.
Ref: SNG Copenhagen 1187; Newell 167. 2.42g, 15mm, 12h.
Demetrius I “Poliorcetes” (“the Besieger,” 337–283 BC) was the daredevil son of Antigonus Monophthalmus who turned siege-craft into theater and made cities his play-things. His greatest triumph came at the naval Battle of Salamis (Cyprus) in 306 BC, where he destroyed Ptolemy’s fleet, freeing the Aegean and prompting him to mint silver tetradrachms. He briefly ruled the Aegean and proclaimed himself king, placing the first living Hellenistic portrait on silver tetradrachms that flaunt him crowned by a divine diadem.
His gigantic siege-tower “Helepolis” reduced Rhodes’ walls yet the island wrung a draw. His whirlwind campaigns saw him hailed in Athens as a new liberator only to be expelled when fortune turned. In 294 BC, he seized Macedonia, minted coins with Poseidon astride a prow to celebrate his naval prowess, but lost the throne to a coalition of rivals and spent his last years a gilded prisoner of Seleucus I. Demetrius left a legend of audacity and excess, and his coinage - dynamic portraits framed by sea-power iconography -established precedence for the personal propaganda of later Hellenistic kings.
250 - 200 B.C.E.
The Roman republic and Carthage fought three wars as the super-powers of the Mediterranean. The three Punic wars were fought over a century and resulted in the complete destruction of Carthage and lasting Roman dominance in the Mediterranean. The second Punic War known for Hannibals attacks on the Italian peninsula, crossing the Alps with elephants. This coin issued sometime after 211 BC during the Second Punic War and shown with a Map of Roman and Carthaginian territories at the start of this War. Map from 1911 by Shepherd via University of Texas Austin Map Collection.
200 - 150 B.C.E.
This Bactrian Drachm was issued by Apollodotos, Bactrian King from sometime in the early second century B.C.E. It is shown with an axe head from the MET museum that is close to 2000 years older (ca. late 3rd–early 2nd millennium BCE)
from the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex located in what would eventually become southern Bactria.
150 - 200 B.C.E.
Quintus Caecilius Metellus, as consul in 123 BC, was dispatched to quell the Balearic pirates who had long harassed Mediterranean shipping; over a two-year campaign (123–121 BC) he subjugated Mallorca and Menorca, settled 3,000 Roman and Iberian colonists there, and founded the towns of Palma and Pollentia. The Senate granted him a triumph in 121 BC and the new surname Balearicus to commemorate the victory, adding another laurel to the already illustrious Caecilius Metellus line (his father was Metellus Macedonicus).
He served as censor in 120 BC, continued the family’s traditional alignment with the optimates, and reportedly funded public works with the spoils gained from the islands. Although overshadowed by later Metelli, his conquest secured safer western sea-lanes and extended Roman colonization into the western Mediterranean archipelagos. The Ruins of Pollentia are shown with a denarius issued in 130 BCE by Metellus as moneyer with helmeted Roma on the obverse and Jupiter in a quadriga (4-horse chariot) holding a thunderbolt. Moneyer was an early step on the career ladder of a Roman politician. Photo source: Olaf Tausch, CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
100 B.C.E. - 50 C.E.
An 84 BCE denarius of Lucius Cornelius Sulla (Crawford 359/2). “AH, UNHAPPY MAN!” CRIED AURELIUS, “IT IS MY LAND OF ALBA THAT BANISHES ME. AUC 670 (84 BCE)". While Sulla pursued Mithridates, Rome groaned under Marius and Cinna. Returning in 84 BCE, he rallied exiles, crushed the armies of Norbanus, Scipio, the younger Marius, and Carbon, then beat the Samnites at Rome’s gates and adopted the title Felix. His restraint vanished: six thousand surrendered troops were butchered; Praeneste and other pro-Marian towns were pillaged, twelve thousand dying by the sword.
Quintus Aurelius was politically neutral, yet he owned a valuable estate near Alba Longa in the prosperous Alban Hills south-east of Rome. That land was coveted by Sulla’s henchmen. Because proscriptions required no formal charge, wealth alone made a man expendable: once Aurelius’s holdings were eyed for redistribution, adding his name to the daily list was effortless. When Quintus Aurelius read his own name, he lamented that his Alban estate condemned him, and was slain. Image Source: Mirys, S. D., Longueil, J. de, Ghendt, E. J. N. de, Baquoy, P. C., Delaunay, R., & Didot, P. (1799). Figures de l’histoire de la République romaine, accompagnées d’un précis historique. Chez le citoyen Mirys.
100 - 50 B.C.E.
There was little peace in the last century of the Roman Republic. This coin issued after the Social Wars, the Civil Wars of Marius and Sulla, and in the third and last of the Mithridatic Wars which would conclude in 63 BC. Civil War would soon follow between Caesar and Pompey. This coin shown with a detail from a 2nd century C.E. mosaic "Poseidon’s Triumph and the Four Seasons" from the National Bardo Museum in Tunisia.
50 B.C.E. - 1 C.E.
January 10th, 49 BCE, Caesar crossed the Rubicon without relinquishing his troops in violation of Roman law. This attack on Rome was the beginning of Caesar's civil war between him and the allies of Pompey the Great that continued until 45 BCE when Caesar successfully took control. In 44 he was named dictator for life - which wasn't long when on the Ides of March he was murdered in a conspiracy led by the Cassius responsible for this coin. The painting, "César Franchit le Rubicon" (Caesar crosses the Rubicon), is the scene as imagined by Adolphe Yvon, and can be found in the Musée des Beaux-Arts d'Arras (Pas-de-Calais, France).
50 B.C.E. - 1 C.E.
A 48 BCE denarius of Pompey the Great (Crawford 447/1a). Fleeing Caesar in 49 B C E, a despondent Pompey sought refuge with Egypt’s boy-king Ptolemy at Pelusium. Ptolemy’s advisors Achillas and the rhetorician Theodotus, valuing expediency over gratitude, resolved to kill him. Achillas and Septimius - once Pompey’s subordinate - rowed out in a humble fishing boat; although the craft and soldiers massed onshore aroused his misgivings, Pompey, after a final farewell to his wife Cornelia, boarded alone. As he rose to disembark, Septimius stabbed him from behind while accomplices finished the murder. The conspirators decapitated and embalmed his head for Caesar, leaving the body on the beach; two sympathetic Romans secretly cremated it that night and delivered the ashes to Cornelia. Image Source: Mirys, S. D., Longueil, J. de, Ghendt, E. J. N. de, Baquoy, P. C., Delaunay, R., & Didot, P. (1799). Figures de l’histoire de la République romaine, accompagnées d’un précis historique. Chez le citoyen Mirys.
1 - 50 C.E.
Tiberius began his reign (14-37 AD) as an able replacement for his adoptive father Augustus. He was cautious, entered no wars of conquest, and maintained the Empire's finances in good order. However toward the end of his reign he became cruel and paranoid, and was responsible for a "purge" of senators and members of his own family. "Tiberius was a man of profound common-sense and the cleverest of all his contemporaries at knowing a person's secret intentions, and he surpassed them as much in sagacity as in rank." Caligula may have murdered him. For most of his reign he used the same design for both silver denarii and gold aurei. He ruled Rome during the time of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ in Judaea (circa AD 30 and 34). This coin is often associated with as the "Tribute Penny" from Mark 12:16: “Give to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” Portrait by Aegidius Sadeler II from 1589-1629 after Titian in the British Museum.
50 - 100 C.E.
Poppaea is depicted here on the reverse of a coin from Alexandria Egypt, issued by the Emperor Nero. She is implicated in the death of the philosopher Seneca and Nero's mother Agrippina the Younger. Nero reportedly kicked her when she was pregnant and she died in 65 AD a year or two after this coin was issued. The image is a detail of a painting from the workshop of Giulio Romano (Rome c. 1499-Mantua 1546), "Nero Playing while Rome Burns" c. 1536-9 Oil on panel in the Royal Collection Trust.
100 - 150 C.E.
The coin shown is from Alexandria, Egypt and was issued in Hadrian's name (117-138) - it is a bronze diobol dated Regnal Year 14 (= 129/30 CE). Obv: Laureate draped and cuirassed bust right. Rev: Serpent Agathodaemon erect, right, crowned with pschent, enfolding caduceus and stalk of corn; LΙΔ (date) in right field.
Hadrian (ruled 117–138 CE) inherited a sprawling empire and spent much of his reign traveling its frontiers, preferring consolidation to fresh conquest. He abandoned Trajan’s short-lived Mesopotamian gains, fortified the Rhine–Danube limes, and in Britannia ordered construction of Hadrian’s Wall—a 73-mile stone barrier from the Tyne to the Solway designed to seal off restless northern tribes and symbolize Rome’s fixed limits.
A Hellenophile, he rebuilt Athens, completed the Olympieion, and founded the Panhellenion league to anchor Greek municipal pride within Roman rule. Domestically he professionalized the imperial civil service, issued the edictum perpetuum codifying praetorian law, and fostered a cultural renaissance that spanned architecture, poetry, and the court’s intellectual circle. His later years darkened after the Jewish Bar Kokhba revolt, but he left behind one of the most stable and artistically vibrant periods of the High Empire.
The image of a section of Hadrian's Wall located in the North of the United Kingdom was taken on 28-Oct-2010 by quisnovus from Gloucester, England, used under CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.
150 - 200 C.E.
Marcus Aurelius was the last of the "5 Good Emperors". He ruled Rome C.E. 161-180. Marcus Aurelius wrote a diary in 12 books called the Meditations with his reflections and thoughts on self-improvement. This coin is a Æ Dupondius issued in Rome 179-180. "M AVREL ANTONINVS AVG TRP XXX III", the obverse legend, and "IMP X - COS III PP", the reverse legend, date the coin based on the emperors titles. The reverse shows the goddess, Victory, advancing left, holding wreath and palm. Image via Wikipedia.
200 - 250 C.E.
Roman Imperial, Philip I 'The Arab' (244-249), Antoninianus, Rome, issued for the 1000 Anniversary of Rome and the Saecular Games.
Obv: IMP PHILIPPVS AVG, Radiate, draped and cuirassed bust right.
Rev: SAECVLARES AVGG, Cippus inscribed COS / III in two lines.
Ref: RIC 24c.
Philip I “the Arab” rose from Praetorian prefect to emperor after Gordian III’s death on the Persian frontier in 244 CE, becoming Rome’s first ruler of Levantine (Arab) origin. He quickly concluded a costly peace with Shapur I, paid a massive indemnity, and turned east-frontier troops toward stabilizing the Danube, though chronic cash shortages dogged his reign. In 248 he staged Rome’s lavish saecular games to mark the city’s millennium, projecting piety and civic renewal while tolerating Christian worship more openly than any predecessor. Yet internal dissent flared: legions in Moesia proclaimed Pacatianus, the East backed Jotapianus, and even Philip’s brother Priscus could not hold Syria securely. Finally, Danubian commander Trajan Decius was hailed emperor by his troops, marched west, defeated Philip at Verona in 249, and ended his five-year reign. The portrait of Philip the Arab in Marble, mid-3rd century, Inv. No. A 31, Saint-Petersburg, The State Hermitage Museum. Image via Wikipedia.
250 - 300 C.E.
Probus (276-282), AE Antoninianus, Lyon, struck AD 282, 3.71g, 21mm
Obv: IMP C PROBVS • P • F • AVG, radiate and curaissed bust of Probus right viewed from 3/4 facing. (Bastien bust code: B)
Rev: TEMPOR FELICIT /B/-//-, Felicitas standing with head facing right, with a long caduceus in her right hand, and an cornucopia in her left. (Type C)
Ref: RIC : 129, Bastien : 386 this specific variant with B in left field is ID# 174
Probus reigned for bout 8 years from about August of 276 - Sept/Oct of 282. Florian was killed by his own troops in favor of Probus. Probus lived about 50 years from AD 232 until Sept/Oct AD 282 when he, in turn, was killed by his troops in favor of Carus. This period of soldier emperors between the last Severan, Severus Alexander in AD 235, and Diocletian in AD 284, had 15 emperors with most of them gaining power with the execution or murder of their predecessor. More here: "Soldier Emperor"
300 - 350 C.E.
In CE 324 Constantine I (reigned 307/10-337) defeated Licinius to become sole Augustus of the Roman Empire. This coin issued in Thessalonica circa 324 AD.
Constantine chose Byzantium as his "Nova Roma" (New Rome). In 330 he dedicated the new city as Constantinopolis. The reverse on this coin commemorates the wishes of the empire for the next 20 years of Constantine's reign. Constantine is declared "Dominus Noster" on the coin ("Our Lord"), a ceremonial title inherited from Diocletian.
Constantine was born in 274, son of Constantius Chlorus and Helene. He was named Caesar on the death of his father, July 25, 306 and was proclaimed Augustus on December 25, 307.
He married Fausta, the daughter of Maximianus Herculeus, who gave him five children, three of whom were Augusti. The first twenty years of his reign he battled with his co-rulers to achieve sole rule as emperor. He is recognized as the first Christian emperor, although he was only baptized on his deathbed on May 22, 337.
The public domain image of "Triumphant Entry of Constantine into Rome" by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640) was painted about CE 1621 and can be found at The Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields.
350 - 400 C.E.
Julian II "The Apostate", AD 360-363, AE1 or Majorina, minted at Nicomedia. Obv: D N FL CL IVLI-ANVS P F AVG, diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right Rev: SECVRITAS REIPVB, bull standing right, two stars above; palm NIK[G?]• palm Ref: RIC VIII 122. Note : See Forum Ancient Coins for an excellent review of the many explanations for the bull on this coin.
Julian II, known as Julian the Apostate (r. 361–363 AD), was the last pagan emperor of the Roman Empire and a strikingly unconventional figure in late antiquity. A nephew of Constantine the Great, Julian rose to prominence as Caesar in Gaul, where he achieved remarkable military success against Germanic tribes. Upon the sudden death of Constantius II, Julian assumed full imperial power and embarked on an ambitious project to restore traditional Roman religious practices, seeking to roll back the Christianization of the empire.
A philosopher-emperor deeply influenced by Neoplatonism, Julian’s reforms aimed to revive Hellenic cults and reshape imperial governance in a classical mold. His reign ended abruptly during a military campaign against the Sassanid Persians, where he was mortally wounded in battle. His death, of wounds from the Battle of Samarra in June 363, marked the final failure of pagan revivalism and solidified the Christian trajectory of the empire.
450 - 500 C.E.
"Perfection has been attained! In the tranquil reign of Skandagupta, whose hall of audience is shaken by the wind caused by the falling down (in the act of performing obeisance) of the heads of a hundred kings; who is born in the lineage of the Gupta; whose fame is spread far and wide; who excels all others in prosperity; who resembles (the god) Sakra : (and) who is the lord of a hundred kings - in the one hundredth year, increased by thirty and ten and one; the month Jyeshtha having arrived."
-Skandagupta (circa 455-467 C.E.) inscription on the Kahaum pillar (images public domain via Wikipedia)
450 - 500 C.E.
After the death of his father in 457, the second son of Yazdegerd II, Peroz (457/9-484 CE) seized power in 459 CE after a brief civil war, toppling his older brother Hormizd III with the aid of the Hephthalite (White Huns) of Bactria. The price was an annual tribute that gnawed at Sasanian prestige. A multi-year drought in the 460s resulted in famine and forced extraordinary grain imports, emergency coin issues, and tax remissions. Determined to buttress royal authority, Peroz patronized Zoroastrian clergy and tightened controls over Christians, a policy that helped spark the Armenian-Iberian revolt of 482. Three Hephthalite wars (c. 470, 478, and 484 CE) were disastrous. Peroz was lured into an ambush in the third war; he, several princes, and most of the Sasanian field army were annihilated. Eastern Iran fell under Hephthalite overlordship and the empire was forced to pay a crippling indemnity.
550 - 600 C.E.
Byzantine emperor Justin II issued this coin in Constantinople, dated Regnal Year 3 (III) = C.E. 567/8. The Cross of Justin II (Crux Vaticana), from Constantinople, is now in St Peter’s Treasury and was presented by Emperor Justin II (565-574) and Empress Sophia to Pope John III. A bronze core clad in gilded silver and once glittering with gems, it housed a reliquary capsule for a fragment of the True Cross, proclaiming both imperial piety and political patronage of Rome. While its jeweled front is largely restored, the silver repoussé reverse remains original: medallions of Christ (and possibly John the Baptist) crown the axis, and busts of the emperor and empress, hands raised in prayer adorn the cross-beam. It is an eloquent fusion of Byzantine diplomacy and devotion. (image public domain via Wikipedia)
750 - 800 C.E.
The Abbasid Caliphate (750–1258) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by Al-Mahdi's uncle and centered in what is today modern Baghdad. This gold coin is from the time of Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Manṣūr, the 2nd Caliph of the Abbasid Caliphate, who reigned 10 Jun 754 - 6 Oct. 775 CE.
Al-Mansur founded the imperial residence and palace city called Madinat al-Salam (the cisty of Peace) which became the Imperial capital Baghdad. The foundations of Baghdad we laid near the old capital of al- Mada'in on the western bank of the Tigris River.
The Image is from “Preparation of Medicine from Honey," translated and illustrated from Dioscorides by the Baghdad School a 12th century school of Islamic art from Baghdad that died out at the end of the Abbasid Caliphate (via the NY MET). Baghdad became a center of science, culture and innovation during the period of the Abbasids.
800 - 850 C.E.
The Coin: Theophilus. 829-842. Æ Follis (29.5mm, 8.26 g, 6h). Constantinople mint. Struck 829-830/1. Crowned facing bust, wearing chlamys, holding patriarchal cross and akakia / Large M; cross above; X/X/X/ - N/N/N across field; Θ. DOC 13; SB 1666.
Theophilus (r. 829–842), second ruler of the Amorian (or Phrygian) dynasty, was the last Byzantine emperor to champion iconoclasm; even while enforcing a ban on sacred images, he presided over a renaissance of learning, patronized the University‑like school in the Magnaura, and filled his new palaces with ingenious automata that amazed foreign envoys. Militarily he fought almost continuous defensive wars against the ʿAbbāsid Caliphate, achieving a few frontier victories but suffering the catastrophic sack of his birthplace Amorion in 838.
To bolster security he strengthened the sea walls of Constantinople, founded new provincial themes such as Chaldia and Cherson, and resettled Khurramite and Slavic soldiers inside Asia Minor. Administratively his reputation as a “just emperor” endured in later Byzantine literature, and fiscally he left the treasury sound despite the wars. Struck down by dysentery on 20 January 842, he was succeeded by his young son Michael III under the regency of his widow Theodora, who soon reversed his iconoclastic policy.
The image is from a 12th or 13th century illuminated manuscript known as the Madrid Scylitzes which chronicles the reigns of Byzantine emperors from the death of Nicephorus I in AD 811 to Michael VI in 1057. The scene illustrates events that can within days of the 16 year old Theophilus ascended the throne. He reinforced legitimacy by presiding over a public coronation, issuing largess to the populace, and executing the surviving conspirators who had murdered Emperor Leo V nine years earlier, dramatizing his image as a just ruler while distancing himself from his father’s tainted rise.
750 - 800 C.E.
Abbasid Caliphate, al-Mahdi, AH 158-169/775-785 CE. AR dirham (27.9mm, 2.95g, 3 h). Jayy mint, 162AH. vizier Yahya ibn Khalid Barmaki. Album 215.1
Al‑Mahdī (CE 775‑785) was the son and heir Al‑Manṣūr (CE 754‑775).
The Barmakids’ rise began in al‑Manṣūr’s reign, flowered under al‑Mahdī, and culminated when Yaḥyā became vizier and foster‑father to Harūn al‑Rashīd. This illustration from the history of the Barmakid family (Akhbar-i Barmakiyan) written in the tenth and eleventh centuries CE showing a mendicant preacher, Mansūr ibn ʿAmmār, brought before Yahya Barmaki. This is an Indian, Mughal illustration of Ink, opaque watercolor, and gold on paper from the late 16th century. The scene resonates with Mughal ideals of enlightened governance and lavish patronage. Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
900 - 950 C.E.
Nasr ibn Ahmad was the ruler of Transoxiana and Khurasan and head of the Samanid dynasty from 914 to 943. He was the son of Ahmad ibn Isma’il.
950 - 1000 C.E.
India, Medieval, Chalukyas of Gujarat, 950-1000 CE, Gadhaiya, emission 4, possibly an early Chalukya issue
Obv: Bust with an elongated skull and large ears to right, traces of drapery
Rev: Sasanian fire altar flanked by two stylized attendants
Ref: Abels assigned to emission 4 to the first half of the 10th century, B.U. Abels, Ein Beitrag zur Entwicklung der Gadhia-Münzen, in: Beiträge zur Allgemeinen und Vergleichenden Archäologie, vol. 4 (1982).
Mūlarāja (r. c. 941–996 CE) was the founder of the Chaulukya (Solanki) dynasty of Gujarat and the maker of its capital at Anahilapataka. Reported in both legend and inscription as a nephew—or, in hostile sources, the assassin—of the last Chavda ruler, he seized power around 940–41 CE, lightened taxation to consolidate support, and styled himself conqueror of the Sarasvatī basin. Over a five-decade reign he pushed his frontier from Mount Abu in the north to the Lāṭa coast in the south, defeating regional foes such as the Saurāṣṭra king Grāharipu, the Kaccha chieftain Lakṣa, the Chāhamāna ruler Vigraharāja II, and the Lāṭa Chalukya vassal Bārapa.
Surviving inscriptions praise him as a patron of Brahmins and poets. The copper plate that is illustrated - known as the Kadi grant of Mūlarāja I - records one of the earliest land-donations issued by the Solanki founder, asserting his royal style (“rājādhirāja”) and his effort to win support of the Brahmins in the Sarasvatī region soon after seizing power in Gujarat.
950 - 1000 C.E.
Samanid, Mansur I bin Nuh (AD 961-976/AH 350-365) AR multiple Dirham, Ma'din mint. Undated issue, Double reverse issue. Ref: mule of Album 1465+1465A see Zeno 308820. The painting of Mansur I, an Samanid Emir, by Rashid-al-Din Hamadani (1247–1318), dated before 1318 CE. Public Domain image via Wikimedia Commons.
Abū Ṣāleḥ Manṣūr I b. Nūḥ, styled al‑Amīr al‑Sadīd and al‑Malik al‑Muẓaffar, reigned in Transoxiana and Khurāsān from AH 350‑365 / AD 961‑976. Elevated at Bukhārā on 1 December 961 after his brother ʿAbd‑al‑Malik’s sudden death, he quickly stopped the coup of the Turkish general Alptigin, who retreated to Ghazna, and restored Khorāsān to loyal Simjūrid commanders.
Seeking revenue, Manṣūr pushed west: he imposed heavy indemnities on the Ziyārids of Ṭabaristān and, after hard fighting, forced Buyid ruler Rukn al‑Dawla to pay an annual 150,000‑dirham tribute, sealing the accord by marrying his son Nūḥ (future Nūḥ II) to a Buyid princess.
Despite fiscal strain, he embellished Bukhārā with new gardens along the Jūy‑i Mūliyān and, more lastingly, patronized Persian letters: at his request the vizier Abū ʿAlī Balʿamī produced a Persian redaction of al‑Ṭabarī’s universal history, and a Persian translation of al‑Ṭabarī’s Qurʾānic commentary was begun—projects remembered as milestones in the rise of New Persian prose.
Manṣūr died on 13 June 976, leaving a comparatively secure, culturally vibrant emirate to the adolescent Nūḥ II.
1100 - 1150 C.E.
This coin is from an emperor who was derided with the title Duke of Confused or Clouded Virtue. Emperor Huizong (宋徽宗, personal name: Zhao Ji, 1082-1135) was the eighth and penultimate ruler of the Northern Song dynasty. His reign goes from unparalleled cultural splendor to dynastic catastrophe. "The Painting of Listening to the Qin", Huizhong playing the qin detail from a larger work via Wikipedia. "the painting depicts Emperor Huizong, after being declared the "supreme Emperor of the Daoist Church" in April of the seventh year of the Zhenghe era (1117 AD), receiving court officials, playing the qin, discussing Daoism, and conveying subtle messages through art." ... "the melody of the qin representing the moral guidance of the monarch being received and followed by his subjects." (Source: here)
1150 - 1200 C.E.
Saladin and Guy of Lusignan after the Battle of Hattin in CE 1187, 1954, by Said Tahseen (1904-1985). Saladin was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty and the first sultan of Syria and Egypt. Public Domain image via GoodFreePhotos.
1150 - 1200 C.E.
This large 35mm 6.85g Seljuk of Rûm coin of Sultan Sulayman II (reign CE 1196-1204) was issued 1198/99 CE. Son of Kilij Arslan II, Suleiman overthrew his brother, Sultan Kaykhusraw I, and became sultan in 1196. He fought neighboring rulers and expanded the territories of the Sultanate. Map of the Sultanate of Rûm by Swordrist, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
1200 - 1250 C.E.
Queen Lilavati was the fourth women known to have ruled Sri Lanka in her own right. She held the throne 3 times between 1197 and 1212 CE. She rose to prominence as the Queen to King Parākramabāhu the Great who died in 1186 CE. The modern photo shows the ruins of the castle in Palonnaruwa. Photo by M. Lechanteur, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
1250 - 1300 C.E.
Muhammad bin Tughluq (1290 – 20 March 1351) was the eighteenth Sultan of Delhi. He reigned from February 1325 until his death in 1351. He was the eldest son of Ghiyath al-Din Tughluq, founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. He introduced this token currency in AH 730 after his failed attempt to shift the capital to Deogiri. There brass and copper coins were valued equally to gold and silver. This currency was disputed in trade and devalued quickly. The 19th century painting depicts the sultan in court. [Salar Jung Museum, Hyderabad]
1300 - 1350 C.E.
Giovanni Soranzo used the name I O · SVPANTIO on the Venetian silver grosso struck in his name (shown above). He ascended the ducal throne of Venice on 13 July 1312 as a compromise elder who could pacify factions still raw from the failed Querini-Tiepolo coup. His first moves were outward-looking: he dispatched the diplomat Francesco Dandolo to Avignon, where Pope Clement V lifted the interdict and excommunication that had crippled Venetian trade (26 Jan-17 Feb 1313).
Almost simultaneously he led a hard siege that forced rebellious Zara (Zadar) back under Venetian sovereignty in September 1313. At home Soranzo respected the stern sentences of the newly-created Council of Ten, even when they condemned his daughter, Soranza, to lifelong confinement inside the convent of Santa Maria delle Vergini in Venice for violating the terms of her exile - her husband, Niccolò Querini, was a co-conspirator in the failed 1310 coup attempt.
Soranzo's sixteen-year dogate is remembered for re-opening diplomatic and commercial routes from Byzantium to England and completing Dalmatia’s submission. The doge died 31 December 1328, aged about eighty-three, and was interred in St Mark’s Basilica. The portrait: Il doge Giovanni Soranzo (1240-1328) unknown artist, 14th century, public domain via Pinterest.
1450 - 1500 C.E.
Ferdinand II and Isabella of Spain, 1474-1504. The portraits are a pair showing Ferdinand II of Aragon (1452-1516) and his wife, Isabella I of Castile (1451-1504), King and Queen of Spain and parents of Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536). Public domain images via the Royal Trust Collection.
1550 - 1600 C.E.
A coin of Akbar the Great (1556-1605) with picture of Akbar the great training and elephant. Miniature of the Mughal school via Wikipedia (Public Domain) from the State Museum of Berlin.
1600 - 1650 C.E.
Louis XIII (r. 1610 – 1643) ascended the French throne at nine after the assassination of his father, Henri IV. A regency under his formidable mother, Marie de Médicis, lasted until the young king seized personal power in 1617. From 1624 he ruled in close partnership with Cardinal Armand-Jean du Plessis, duc de Richelieu. Richelieu and the king curbed feudal aristocrats, dismantled most private fortresses (1626), and subdued Protestant strongholds in two campaigns that culminated in the fall of La Rochelle (1628) and the Peace of Alès (1629). The edict confirmed Huguenot worship but stripped them of political and military privileges, completing the crown’s long contest with France’s Protestant minority.
Determined to check Habsburg dominance, Louis and Richelieu first bank-rolled Protestant allies, then entered the wider conflict directly in 1635. French arms, strengthened by reforms in finance and command, scored major victories (e.g., Breitenfeld [1642] and Honnecourt [1642]), setting the stage for the triumph at Rocroi days after Louis’s death in 1643.
The reign fostered Baroque architecture, the rise of the Musketeers, and the founding of the Académie Française (1635), laying ideological and artistic foundations for Louis XIV’s later grandeur.
Louis XIII, King of France, by Philippe de Champaigne (1602–1674), oil on canvas 1635, Museo del Prado, public domain image modified via Wikipedia
1600 - 1650 C.E.
Mughal Empire, Mirza Nur-ud-Din Muhammad Salim known by his imperial name Jahangir – literally “Conqueror of the World” he was the only surviving son of Akbar the Great. Image public domain via an antique postcard on EBay.
1600 - 1650 C.E.
Shah Jahan was the third son of Jahangir, and the fifth emperor of the Mughal Empire(C.E. 1628 - 1658). Under his emperorship, the Mughals reached the peak of their architectural achievements. He commissioned monuments that include the Red Fort, Shah Jahan Mosque and the Taj Mahal, where his favorite wife Mumtaz Mahal is entombed. Illustration by Payag of Shah Jahan on Horseback, Folio from the Shah Jahan Album ca. 1630, via the MET museum.
1700 - 1750 C.E.
Farrukhsiyar (AH 1124-1131/1713-1719 CE), Surat Mint, Silver Rupee (11.59g, 25.5mm), RY 7, "Badshah Bahr-o-barr" (“King sea and land”) Couplet
Rev: Persian legend "sana 7 julus" Regnal year 5 & "zarb Surat" struck at Surat.
Farrukhsiyār (reign 1713 – 1719) seized the Mughal throne with the military backing of the powerful Sayyid brothers, who soon reduced him to a figure‑head while they governed in his name. His reign saw a patchwork of bold but destabilizing acts: the celebrated 1717 farmān (imperial edict) that granted the British East India Company virtually duty‑free trade in Bengal, the brutal campaign that captured and executed the Sikh leader Banda Singh Bahadur, and repeated tax and revenue experiments meant to replenish an empty treasury.
This coin from that last full year of his reign. Regnal year 7 in AH 1130, which ran from roughly late November 1717 to mid‑November 1718 CE. Court intrigue, Maratha and Sikh resistance, and the Sayyid brothers’ domination steadily eroded imperial authority; by early 1719 they had Farrukhsiyār blinded on the morning of 28 February 1719, deposed and strangled a few weeks later, ushering in a rapid turnover of puppet emperors and signalling the Mughal empire's slide into irreversible fragmentation.
Detail of a painting, in opaque watercolor and gold on paper, of emperor Farrukhsiyar (r. 1713-1719) standing holding a turban aigrette (feathered ornament). Image used under non-commercial license from the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
1650 - 1700 C.E.
Mustafa II's reign was a period of transition and challenge for the Ottoman Empire, with military setbacks in Europe and internal dissent, which set the stage for the 18th century Ottoman politics. Early 18th Century illustration of Sultan Mustafa II dressed in full armor. Public domain image via Wikipedia.
1750-1800 C.E.
Charles IV of Spain reigned from 1788 to 1808, a period marked by deepening internal stagnation and increasing foreign entanglements. Known for his personal indolence and deference to his wife, Queen Maria Luisa, and her favorite, Manuel Godoy, Charles presided over a monarchy in decline. His reign coincided with the French Revolution and the rise of Napoleon, which destabilized the Spanish state both ideologically and militarily.
Godoy's erratic foreign policy - swinging between alliances with France and Britain - undermined Spain’s standing, while economic distress and bureaucratic paralysis eroded public confidence. In 1808, amid popular unrest and court intrigue, Charles abdicated under pressure from Napoleon, who then installed his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the Spanish throne, triggering the Peninsular War. Charles's reign is thus often remembered as the twilight of Bourbon absolutism in Spain, eclipsed by dynastic disgrace and national humiliation.
Francisco Goya (1746–1828), "Charles IV in Red", Charles IV of Spain, 1789. Public domain image via Wikipedia.
1750 - 1800 C.E.
King George the III of Great Britain (1761-1820), France and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, Duke of Brunswick and Lueneburg, Arch Treasurer and Elector of the Holy Roman Empire (Magnae Britanniae Franciae et Hiberniae Rex Fidei Defensor Brunsvicensis et Luneburgensis Dux Sacri Romani Imperii Archi Thesaurarius et Elector). 18th Century coronation portrait of King George III by Allan Ramsay, c.1761-62. Public domain image via the Royal Trust Collection.
1800 - 1850 C.E.
This coin was issued in the 47th Regnal Year of Shah Alam II (C.E. 1806), with a "Saya-e-fazle elah" Couplet, in the name of Shah Alam II on the obverse Persian legend "sikka zad bar haft kishwar saya-e-fazle elah, hami deen-e-Muhammad Shah Alam Badshah",
And the date with a flower mint mark on the reverse with persian legend 'sana 47 julus' zarb.
The couplet reads: "He struck coins in the seven climes under the shade of Divine Grace, Protector of the faith of Muhammad, Shah Alam, the Emperor."
Daurat Rao Shinde was involved in several conflicts with the British East India Company. He was one of the maininstigators of the Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803-1805) and remained neutral in the Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817-1818) in which the Company gained control most of India.
The Marathas, under his leadership, faced defeat at the hands of the British. Daulat Rao Shinde signed the Treaty of Surji-Anjangaon in 1803 after defeat in the Battle of Argaon. This treaty resulted in the loss of several territories to the British.
He died on March 21, 1827, and was succeeded by his adopted son, Jankoji Rao Scindia II. The "Company painting" depicts Maharaja Ali Jah Daulat Rao Sindhia of Gwalior (1781-1827) seated on cushions under a canopy, surrounded by courtiers, and was painted by Khairullah of Delhi around 1825. Public Domain image via Wikimedia Commons.
1850 - 1900 C.E.
China, copper 10 wen, Qing, Xian-feng, 1851-1861, Tong Bao, Aqsu, DH28.23 rarity level [8]
Obv.: 咸豐通寶 - Xian Feng Tong Bao (cross reading)
Rev.: (mint) Aqsu - Manchu ᠠᡴᠰᡠ aqsu (left) / Uighur اقسو aqsu (Turkic - right),, 當 十 Dang Shi (value 10) in Chinese - top and bottom
Xianfeng was almost 19 years old when he ascended the throne. He faced a challenging time of war, famine, and rebellions. The Taiping rebellion that started a few months into his reign, and continued throughout.
As a Western frontier town in the Tarim Basin, the Aqsu (from turkic for white water) Mint was thousands of kilometers west of the Taiping Rebellion and not involved directly. Its production of high-denomination 10 wén coins during the Xianfeng period was part of a Qing-wide emergency monetary policy driven by the rebellion’s indirect economic impact, rather than its direct military consequences.
Statue of Emperor Xianfeng, Palace Museum, Beijing, Qing Dynasty Court Painter. Image Public Domain via Wikimedia.
1900 - 1950 C.E.
The United States - a set of coins featuring "Liberty" in gold bronze and silver.