"Scholars commonly credit the ancient Romans with publishing the first newspaper, Acta Diurna, or daily doings, in 59 BCE. Although no copies of this paper have survived, it is widely believed to have published chronicles of events, assemblies, births, deaths, and daily gossip." - History of Newspapers, Chapter 2.1 from an Open Textbook used by Washington State University (and others) Roman Media From the 1st century BCE in the Roman Republic and into the empire, coins were

The Lupa Capitolina was thought to be Etruscan from the 5th century until an analysis by Capitoline Museums in Rome in 2006-2013 suggested that the bronze casting technique was consistent with medieval foundry methods (11th or 12th century AD) - not ancient ones. The twins Romulus and Remus crouching beneath her were always known to be a later addition, attributed to Antonio Pollaiuolo in the 1490s. Public Domain Image via Wikimedia Commons . Today's coin of interest takes us

In AD 286, the emperor Maximian learned that the commander of his Channel fleet, a Menapian officer named Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Carausius, was partnering with pirates to build up his resources. He had been commissioned to clear the Channel of Saxon and Frankish raiders; according to Eutropius 9.22.

Over the last decade or so my collection has been growing from an interest in the late Roman Republican period - with Sulla and the events of the 80s BC as the seed for the collection. A portrait coin of Mithridates has been on my list for most of that time - and I haven't been willing to commit to the price for a tetradrachm of Mithridates VI. Today's coin fills that gap.