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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...
326 views
sulla80
Mar 2, 20222 min read
The Judgement of Paris
Some questions are best avoided. When faced with three beautiful coins, it seems that asking "Which is fairest?" is perhaps not a good...
422 views
sulla80
Feb 12, 20226 min read
United Tribes of Gaul
Eventually this post will reach two denarii that were issued to commemorate Julius Caesar's victories in the Gallic Wars with Celtic...
124 views
sulla80
Feb 5, 20226 min read
Perfect, Rare or Beautiful?
This post starts with a few thoughts on the ingredients that make up an attractive ancient coin and will eventually get to a coin of...
78 views
sulla80
Jan 15, 20224 min read
Lepidus as Moneyer
There is no better illustration of the cursus honorem, the political career ladder in the Roman republic, than a coin from a moneyer who...
118 views
sulla80
Jan 15, 20229 min read
Lysimachos, Pergamon and Cistophori
I have been slowly adding Cistophoric tetradrachms from various cities in Asia minor, and today was looking back at one of my first posts...
208 views
sulla80
Jan 1, 20225 min read
New Beginnings & Ancient Symbols
It is a new year, 2022! Appropriately, today's post opens with new beginnings and Aeneas arriving from Troy to the shores of Italy and...
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sulla80
Dec 5, 20215 min read
A Chemistry Experiment
Public Domain Image published by Chez le citoyen Mirys in Paris, 1799 This coin interested me for several reasons : the link to the time...
111 views
sulla80
Dec 4, 20213 min read
The Chariot of Victory
Public Domain Image, etching "Aurora" by Guido Reni 1886 In 1637, Francescus Junius published "De Pictvra Vetervm Libri Tres" (Of Ancient...
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sulla80
Nov 20, 20217 min read
Top 10 Ancients for 2021
Next week is Thanksgiving, and I am looking forward to the family gathering and a return to Thanksgiving traditions that we missed last...
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sulla80
Nov 7, 20212 min read
Ancient artwork
This week I am adding an extra "Note" commemorating 3 years of "Notes on Ancient Coins" and post number 160. The photos celebrate the...
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sulla80
Nov 5, 20215 min read
The Right of Appeal
"Paul replied, “I am standing before the judgment seat of Caesar, where I ought to be tried. I have done nothing wrong to the Jews, as...
93 views
sulla80
Oct 30, 20217 min read
Rats in Rome
“There are many rats depicted on ancient coins, this one has an actual rat.” - Frank Robinson, ancient coin dealer, in one of his online...
203 views
sulla80
Sep 12, 20218 min read
Goats, Beans and Biscotti
‘With these beans I throw I redeem me and mine.’ -Ovid, Fasti Book V, Lemuria Flora von Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz by Thomé,...
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sulla80
Aug 29, 20216 min read
Grain and Civil Unrest in the Republic
In his introduction to “The Roman Republic”, Michael Crawford writes: “Some parts of the story may perhaps seem unduly dramatic; I can...
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sulla80
Aug 20, 202111 min read
Coins of the Second Triumvirate
Lex Titia, passed by the senate on November, 27 43 BCE, formed the "2nd Triumvirate", and granted broad authority to Mark Antony, Lepidus...
1,921 views
sulla80
Aug 8, 20218 min read
"Sullan Era" Tetradrachms
This note will start with a drachm from Cappadocia, a key point of conflict between the Roman republic and the Kingdom of Pontus. There...
171 views
sulla80
Aug 4, 20213 min read
Mysterious AE from 1st Century BCE
My coin of interest today is a mysterious AE from the late first century with no shortage of competing views on whose portrait appears on...
75 views
sulla80
Aug 1, 20215 min read
Cato the Younger
The history of the Roman Republic has no shortage of dramatic figures and events, and yet the story of Cato the Younger (Cato Minor)...
187 views
sulla80
Jul 25, 20213 min read
Sulla's Uncle or Grandfather
My denarius of interest today was issued by a relative of Lucius Cornelius Sulla. The relationship between this moneyer and the dictator,...
124 views
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