Bread for Tarsus
In the 3th cent., Asia Minor was famine-stricken. The city of Tarsus scored a coup that made the emperor leave the grain necessary for survival to it at a cheap rate. A coin tells of how that was achieved.
Did a British king pay gold to Augustus?
The last series of gold staters issued by British ruler Tasciovanos poses a riddle to experts as the coins differ considerably from previous series. A possible explanation now suggests that the gold staters were made as tribute money to Augustus.
Coins of Lucilla ‘born to the purple’
Lucilla Augusta was very special at her time: not only was she the daughter of emperor Marcus Aurelius, but at the same time she was his co-emperor’s wife. Claire Franklin illustrates by Lucilla’s coin designs how she lived her role.
The unlucky emperor Clodius Albinus – a portrait study
What a huge surprise when the company Gorny & Mosch – Giessener Münzhandlung auctioned off a Roman portrait head from the late 2nd cent. A. D. at auction sale 184 on December 18th, 2009. It was a high quality marble portrait in a remarkable state of preservation which some …
Taxes for Rome
Hands up anyone who hasn’t come to be annoyed by the tangled mass of regulations accompanying our tax collection. Perhaps at different times, the situation had been better… Perhaps in Rome?
Unique gold coin of Bodvoc found
On 16 April 2012 a 2000-year-old gold quarter stater of the ancient British ruler Bodvoc was discovered near Bristol. It was found by Dennis who has been metal detecting for 33 of his 53 years and it can rightly be described as ‘the find of a lifetime’ because of its numismatic importance.
Has Tom found Togodumnus?
Chris Rudd tells us how a newly discovered gold coin helps to reveal the possible identity of a long-forgotten British prince who died fighting during the Claudian invasion of AD 43. This coin was sold on January 13 for a record price of 10,200 Pounds.
Globalisation in Roman times: Trade with India
In the upcoming auction of Künker on 13 March 2017, several interesting aurei are going to be put to auction. They are Indian imitations of Roman gold coins, which bespeak the close trade relations between Rome and the Indian subcontinent.
Dionysus – The God of Ecstasy
Coffee or champagne? Apollo or Dionysus? During the 19th century, Dionysus was depicted as the god of rapture, the embodiment of our subconscious. But how did the Greeks see their god? We will delve into this question by analyzing several of the coins sold in the upcoming 335th Hess Divo AG Auction, which will take place on December 6, 2018.
Human Faces Part 8: A Body is Kidnapped
Why is it that for centuries – or rather thousands of years – the head has served as the motif for the side of a coin? And why has this changed in the last 200 years? In this part of the series it is once again about Alexander the Great – at least about his body.
