sulla80
Sanctuary of Zeus Stratios
Amasia (variants: Amasea, Amasya, Amaseia) sits on a narrow pass or gorge between two large hills. Cut into the rock faces above the river..
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sulla80
Oct 22, 202310 min read
Alexandria ad Issum
Each week, these notes share an ancient coin, context for the coin, relevant art, modern references and ancient sources. Sometimes we...
114 views
sulla80
Sep 21, 20233 min read
Nakrasa, Lydia
An usual location for a Roman Provincial coin of Hadrian is as good a reason as any to add it to a collection. I didn't recognize...
58 views
sulla80
Aug 13, 20233 min read
The Great God Darzalas-Serapis
The coin that we share today is from Roman emperor Gordian III and was issued in Odessus, Moesia Inferior which is today the city of...
977 views
sulla80
Aug 5, 20236 min read
Seleucid End
With the end of the Third Mithridatic War, Rome became the supreme power in control of all the Mediterranean. Pompey celebrated a victory...
274 views
sulla80
Jul 3, 20233 min read
Myndos, Caria
Dionysos, god of wine, pleasure, wildness was the son of Zeus and princess Semele of Thebes. His mother was killed by Hera's jealousy...
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sulla80
May 20, 20233 min read
Hermias, Boy on a Dolphin
Hegesidemus writes that in the city of Iasos a boy named Hermias, while riding across the sea on a dolphin lost his life...
241 views
sulla80
Apr 15, 20235 min read
Ephesus & Arados
The Phoenician city of Aradus issued attic weight drachms closely imitating the Ephesian types from 171/0 BC (year 89) to 110/09 BC (year...
85 views
sulla80
Feb 18, 20236 min read
Fish in Love with Goats
Perhaps close to Valentine's day it is appropriate to begin with a love story between fish and goats. These passages from Oppian's...
77 views
sulla80
Jan 16, 20234 min read
A Coin of Isinda
My coin of interest today is a rare civic issue of a small town from the time of the Roman civil wars, perhaps very near to the time of...
89 views
sulla80
Dec 31, 20223 min read
Just Make it Fit!
Ruins of Nicopolis ad Istrum - public domain image via wikimedia commons. Novius Rufus was a legate (hypateon) or praeses (hegemon) of...
27 views
sulla80
Dec 3, 20224 min read
Paying the Troops
These coin are not pretty by most standards, but they are interesting for the history they witnessed ~2100 years ago during the First...
70 views
sulla80
Oct 21, 20228 min read
Seleucid Empire: Family Politics
These notes were originally written for the tetradrachm from Antioch, that is found at the end of this text, with a fabulous Tyche. The...
151 views
sulla80
Sep 17, 20223 min read
Coins of Vespasian from Ephesus
In an earlier post (Sept 15, 2020), I shared two Roman Imperial denarii of Vespasian from Ephesus. I have since added two more of these...
186 views
sulla80
Jul 1, 20222 min read
A Rare Cistophoric Tetradrachm
When Attalus III died in the late spring or early summer of 133 BC, he bequeathed his kingdom to the Romans. This Early Cistophoric Coin...
70 views
sulla80
Jun 26, 20222 min read
16 Wrestling Moves
Greek wrestlers apparently had more than one move. "These staters which seemingly display only a pair of wrestling figures at first...
54 views
sulla80
Jun 11, 20225 min read
Home to Homer
"It’s for each of us to decide whether to believe in one Homer or in many, in a blind bard or in a spirit that encapsulates the most...
67 views
sulla80
May 28, 20225 min read
Amazon Kyme
This map (a detail from The Historical Atlas by William R. Shepherd, 1923) shows the western edge of Asia Minor (a.k.a. Anatolia or...
113 views
sulla80
Apr 13, 20229 min read
Between the Seleucid and Attalid Kingdom
Since my first note (November 2020) on countermarks of Attic standard tetradrachms, I have added three more coins, so my notes needed some...
345 views
sulla80
Mar 27, 20225 min read
Tigranes II the Great
Seleucid King Antiochus The Great (223-187 BC), expanded his empire by installing Artaxias as the governor (strategos) of Greater Armenia...
312 views
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