Hierapolis, located within Cyrrhestica, northern Syria, was a major religious center dedicated to Atargatis, the "Syrian Goddess"...

Clodius Albinus (c. 150–197 CE) was a Roman general and politician who was briefly emperor during the tumultuous Year of Five Emperors...

Kilikarch wearing a crown of busts, from the Adana Museum. Photo by E. Borgia c. 2018. The Kilikarchia  was a provincial magistracy in...

While this is not the prettiest coin - it is an interesting coin with a water-god and a fish on the reverse of a coin, from an place,...

This week, a mystery coin has been re-identified. Somewhere along the way, it lost its attribution.

2024 has had ups and downs - it seems that every year I start with same thought. This has been an unusual year with and earth quake,...

Augustus' refusal to celebrate personal triumphs after his triple triumph in 29 BCE cultivated imperial image and shifted power dynamics.

The life of Valeria Messalina, the third wife of Emperor Claudius, has inspired numerous books, plays, operas, and films due to ...

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

The Saturnalia was perhaps the most popular of Roman holidays. Catullus wrote to his friend Calvus circa 57-54 BCE that is was "optimus...

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

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...

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...

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

"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...

"I compelled the Parthians to restore to me the spoils and standards of three Roman armies and to ask as suppliants for the friendship of...

The Capitolia were games (held every 4 years) established by Domitian in 86 AD in Rome. "In 86 AD, emperor Domitian organized the first...

Today's coin of interest comes from the reign of Hadrian (CE 117 to 138). This coin is issued in the name of his wife Sabina, from...