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UNITED STATES, Trade Tokens. Wooster, Ohio. Archer House. Circa 1878-1966
AL Twenty-five Cent Token (24mm, 1.48 g, 11h)
ARCHER HOUSE -:- around central hole
GOOD FOR/ 25¢/ IN TRADE
Archer House hotel was constructed in 1878 on the corner of Buckeye and Liberty Streets, on the site of the earlier wood frame Washington House tavern. The founders, tailor E.B. Connelly and his sister-in-law Melinda, named the establishment after Melinda's deceased son, Archer. Melinda Connelly later remarried to A.M. Parrish, with whom she would operate the hotel until her death. The property passed to heir great-grandson, on who's behalf it was sold to Dr. Alonzo Smith in 1923. Archer House was finally purchased by Robert Freeman in 1964, and was razed in 1966. Today, a two story professional building stands on the spot.Ardatirion
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UNITED STATES, Trade Tokens. Wooster, Ohio. Archer House. Circa 1878-1966.
AL Ten Cent Token (22.5mm, 1.28 g, 2h)
ARCHER HOUSE -:- around central hole
GOOD FOR/ 10¢/ IN TRADE
Lipscomb WO 8051; TC 226639
Archer House hotel was constructed in 1878 on the corner of Buckeye and Liberty Streets, on the site of the earlier wood frame Washington House tavern. The founders, tailor E.B. Connelly and his sister-in-law Melinda, named the establishment after Melinda's deceased son, Archer. Melinda Connelly later remarried to A.M. Parrish, with whom she would operate the hotel until her death. The property passed to heir great-grandson, on who's behalf it was sold to Dr. Alonzo Smith in 1923. Archer House was finally purchased by Robert Freeman in 1964, and was razed in 1966. Today, a two story professional building stands on the spot.Ardatirion
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UNITED STATES, Trade Tokens. Wooster, Ohio. Archer House. Circa 1878-1966.
AL Five Cent Token (21.5mm, 1.16 g, 8h)
ARCHER HOUSE -:- around central hole
GOOD FOR/ 5¢/ IN TRADE
Archer House hotel was constructed in 1878 on the corner of Buckeye and Liberty Streets, on the site of the earlier wood frame Washington House tavern. The founders, tailor E.B. Connelly and his sister-in-law Melinda, named the establishment after Melinda's deceased son, Archer. Melinda Connelly later remarried to A.M. Parrish, with whom she would operate the hotel until her death. The property passed to heir great-grandson, on who's behalf it was sold to Dr. Alonzo Smith in 1923. Archer House was finally purchased by Robert Freeman in 1964, and was razed in 1966. Today, a two story professional building stands on the spot.Ardatirion
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027 BC-14 AD - AUGUSTUS AR denarius - struck by P. Licinius Stolo, moneyer (17 BC)obv: AVGVSTVS TR POT (Augustus, laureate, wearing cloak and short tunic, on horseback riding right, holding patera in right hand - banker's mark)
rev: P STOLO III VIR (Salii or priest of Mars's cap (same than apex flaminis) between two studded oval shields (ancilia)).
ref: RIC I 344 (R3); BMCRE 76; RSC 439 (80frcs)
mint: Rome
3.53gms,18-19mm
Extremely rare
History: The Ludi Saeculares were spread over a period of three days (from May 31 to June 3), and Augustus celebrated them to inaugurate the beginning of a new age. On the reverse of this coin the ancilias (sacred shields) symbolised the music at festivals. The "jumping priests" or Salii marched to the Regia, where was the shrine of Mars, in which the ancilia (the sacred shield, and its 11 copies) of Mars were stored. The Salii wearing apex, taking the bronze Ancilia, and danced through the streets carrying poles with the shields mounted on them in their left hands. With their other hand, they banged the shields with a drumstick.berserker
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0aa Defeat of Hannibal on Sicily, 222 BCCn. Lentulus, moneyer
90-85 BC
Quinarius
Laureled head of Jupiter, right
Victory crowning trophy, CN LENT in ex
Seaby, Cornelia 51
Possibly a reference to this event: [Q. Fabius Maximus, afterwards called Cunctator] broke up his camp at Suessula and decided to begin by an attack on Arpi. . . . Now at last the enemy was roused; there was a lull in the storm and daylight was approaching. Hannibal's garrison in the city amounted to about 5000 men, and the citizens themselves had raised a force of 3000. These the Carthaginians put in front to meet the enemy, that there might be no attempt at treachery in their rear. The fighting began in the dark in the narrow streets, the Romans having occupied not only the streets near the gate but the houses also, that they might not be assailed from the roofs. Gradually as it grew light some of the citizen troops and some of the Romans recognised one another, and entered into conversation. The Roman soldiers asked what it was that the Arpinians wanted, what wrong had Rome done them, what good service had Carthage rendered them that they, Italians-bred and born, should fight against their old friends the Romans on behalf of foreigners and barbarians, and wish to make Italy a tributary province of Africa. The people of Arpi urged in their excuse that they knew nothing of what was going on, they had in fact been sold by their leaders to the Carthaginians, they had been victimised and enslaved by a small oligarchy. When a beginning had been once made the conversations became more and more general; at last the praetor of Arpi was conducted by his friends to the consul, and after they had given each other mutual assurances, surrounded by the troops under their standards, the citizens suddenly turned against the Carthaginians and fought for the Romans. A body of Spaniards also, numbering something less than a thousand, transferred their services to the consul upon the sole condition that the Carthaginian garrison should be allowed to depart uninjured. The gates were opened for them and they were dismissed, according to the stipulation, in perfect safety, and went to Hannibal at Salapia. Thus Arpi was restored to the Romans without the loss of a single life, except in the case of one man who had long ago been a traitor and had recently deserted. The Spaniards were ordered to receive double rations, and the republic availed itself on very many occasions of their courage and fidelity.
Livy, History of Rome, 24.46-47Blindado
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107. PertinaxPertinax
Only a mediocre public speaker, Pertinax was first and foremost a gritty old soldier. He was heavily built, had a pot belly, although it was said, even by his critics, that he possessed the proud air of an emperor.
He possessed some charm, but was generally understood to be a rather sly character. He also acquired a reputation for being mean and greedy. He apparently even went as far as serving half portions of lettuce and artichoke before he became emperor. It was a characteristic which would not serve him well as an emperor.
When he took office, Pertinax quickly realized that the imperial treasury was in trouble. Commodus had wasted vast sums on games and luxuries. If the new emperor thought that changes would need to be made to bring the finances back in order he was no doubt right. But he sought to do too much too quickly. In the process he made himself enemies.
The gravest error, made at the very beginning of his reign, was to decide to cut some of the praetorian's privileges and that he was going to pay them only half the bonus he had promised.
Already on 3 January AD 193 the praetorians tried to set up another emperor who would pay up. But that senator, wise enough to stay out of trouble, merely reported the incident to Pertinax and then left Rome.
The ordinary citizens of Rome however also quickly had enough of their new emperor. Had Commodus spoilt them with lavish games and festivals, then now Pertinax gave them very little.
And a truly powerful enemy should be the praetorian prefect Laetus. The man who had after all put Pertinax on the throne, was to play an important role in the emperor's fate. It isn't absolutely clear if he sought to be an honest advisor of the emperor, but saw his advise ignored, or if he sought to manipulate Pertinax as his puppet emperor. In either case, he was disappointed.
And so as Pertinax grew ever more unpopular, the praetorians once more began to look for a new emperor. In early March, When Pertinax was away in Ostia overseeing the arrangements for the grain shipments to Rome, they struck again. This time they tried to set up one of the consuls, Quintus Sosius Falco.
When Pertinax returned to Rome he pardoned Falco who'd been condemned by the senate, but several praetorians were executed. A slave had given them away as being part of the conspiracy.
These executions were the final straw. On 28 March AD 193 the praetorians revolts.
300 hundred of them forced the gates to the palace. None of the guards sought to help their emperor.
Everyone, so it seemed, wanted rid of this emperor. So, too, Laetus would not listen as Pertinax ordered him to do something. The praetorian prefect simply went home, leaving the emperor to his fate.
Pertinax did not seek to flee. He stood his ground and waited, together with his chamberlain Eclectus. As the praetorians found him, they did not discover an emperor quivering with fear, but a man determined on convincing them to put down their weapons. Clearly the soldiers were over-awed by this brave man, for he spoke to them for some time. But eventually their leader found enough courage to step forwards and hurl his spear at the emperor. Pertinax fell with the spear in his chest. Eclectus fought bravely for his life, stabbing two, before he two was slain by the soldiers.
The soldiers then cut off Pertinax' head, stuck it on a spear and paraded through the streets of Rome.
Pertinax had ruled for only 87 days. He was later deified by Septimius Severus.
RI1. Pertinax. A.D. 193. AR denarius (18.0 mm, 2.74 g, 7 h). Rome mint. Rare. IMP CAES P HELV PERTIN AVG, laureate head right / OPI DIVIN TR P COS II, Ops seated left, holding two stalks of grain, resting hand on seat of throne. RIC 8a; RSC 33; BMCRE 19. aVF, flan crack.ecoli
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1792 AE Farthing Token. Birmingham, Warwickshire.Obverse: IOHN HOWARD • F • R • S. Bare headed and draped bust of John Howard facing left.
Reverse: BIRMINGHAM PROMISSORY FARTHING •. HH cypher (for Henry Hickman) with the date, 1792, above.
Edge: "Plain".
Diameter: 23mm | Die Axis: 6
Dalton & Hamer : 481a
This token was issued by Henry Hickman, a wholesale and retail dealer in sheet, bar and rod iron with a business at 3, Edgbaston Street, Birmingham. Hickman is also recorded as a die-sinker and toolmaker in Wrightson’s triennial Birmingham directory, 1818. The token was probably manufactured by William Mainwaring who worked as a diesinker for William Lutwyche at the latter's works in Birmingham, but Hickman himself, given his profession, may have been involved in creating the dies. William Mainwaring died in 1794.
John Howard, in whose name this token was issued, was an expert in prisons and published the book "The State of the Prisons in England & Wales" in 1777.*Alex
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1794 AE Halfpenny Token. Chichester, SussexObverse: QUEEN ELIZABETH •. Three-quarter facing crowned bust of Queen Elizabeth I right, sceptre resting on her right shoulder.
Reverse: CHICHESTER HALFPENNY •. View of Chichester Cross; in exergue, 1794.
Edge: PAYABLE AT DALLY'S CHICHESTER + + + +.
Diameter 29mm | Die Axis 6
Dalton & Hamer: 15
This token was manufactured by Peter Kempson in Birmingham and the dies were engraved by Thomas Wyon. Little is known about the issuer of the token, seemingly to have been Dally and Son who were drapers in Chichester in the 18th century.
Chichester Cross is an elaborate perpendicular market cross standing at the intersection of the four principal streets in the centre of the city of Chichester, West Sussex. According to the inscription upon it, this cross was built by Edward Story, Bishop of Chichester from 1477 to 1503, but little is known for certain and the style and ornaments of the building suggest that it may date from the reign of Edward IV. It was apparently built so that the poor people should have somewhere to sell their wares, and as a meeting point. An earlier wooden cross had been erected on the same site by Bishop Rede (1369-1385). The stone cross, which underwent repairs during the reign of Charles II and again in 1746, still stands to this day.*Alex
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1794 AE Halfpenny, Emsworth, Hampshire.Obverse: EARL HOWE & THE GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE. "Youthful" bust of Earl Howe, wearing tricorn hat and with hair in long pigtail tied with a ribbon, facing left.
Reverse: RULE BRITANNIA. Britannia facing left, seated on globe, her right hand holding spear, her left arm holding laurel-branch and resting on shield at her side; in exergue, 1794.
Edge: “PAYABLE AT LONDON LIVERPOOL OR BRISTOL •.
Diameter: 29mm.
Dalton & Hamer: 13
During the 18th and 19th centuries Emsworth was a busy little port, known for shipbuilding, boat building and rope making. Grain from the area was ground into flour by tidal mills at Emsworth and the flour was then transported by ship to places like London and Portsmouth. Timber from the area was also exported from Emsworth in the 18th and 19th centuries.
This token was probably issued by John Stride, a grocer and tea dealer with a business in Emsworth, and the dies were likely engraved by Thomas Wyon. The token was probably manufactured by Peter Kempson at his mint in Birmingham.
These 18th century tokens are often generically referred to as “Conder” tokens, the name originating from James Conder, a linen draper from Tavern Street in Ipswich. Conder was an ardent collector of tokens and the author of the standard work on the subject until it was superseded by that of Atkins in 1892.
Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, Knight of the Garter and Admiral of the Fleet was born on 8th March, 1726. He was a British naval officer notable in particular for his service during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars. He died on the 5th of August, 1799.
The Glorious First of June, 1794 was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between Britain and the French during the French Revolutionary Wars. The British, under Admiral Lord Howe, attempted to prevent the passage of a vital grain convoy from the United States, which was protected by the French fleet commanded by Vice-Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse. The two forces clashed in the Atlantic Ocean, some 400 nautical miles west of the French island of Ushant, on the first of June 1794. During the battle both fleets were so severely damaged that both Howe and Villaret were compelled to return to their home ports. Both sides claimed victory and the outcome of the battle was seized upon by the press of both nations as a demonstration of the prowess and bravery of their respective navies.*Alex
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1795 AE Halfpenny, Emsworth or Portsmouth, Hampshire.Obverse: EARL HOWE & THE GLORIOUS FIRST OF JUNE. "Elderly" bust of Earl Howe, wearing tricorn hat and with hair tied with a ribbon at back, facing left.
Reverse: RULE BRITANNIA. Britannia facing left, seated on globe, her right hand holding spear, her left arm holding laurel-branch and resting on shield at her side; in exergue, 1795.
Edge: “PAYABLE IN LONDON” the remainder engrailed.
Diameter: 29mm.
Dalton & Hamer: 23b
This token was probably issued by John Stride, a grocer and tea dealer with a business in Emsworth, and the dies were likely engraved by Thomas Wyon. The token was probably manufactured by Peter Kempson at his mint in Birmingham.
These 18th century tokens are often generically referred to as “Conder” tokens, the name originating from James Conder, a linen draper from Tavern Street in Ipswich. Conder was an ardent collector of tokens and the author of the standard work on the subject until it was superseded by that of Atkins in 1892.
Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, Knight of the Garter and Admiral of the Fleet was born on 8th March, 1726. He was a British naval officer notable in particular for his service during the American War of Independence and the French Revolutionary Wars. He died on the 5th of August, 1799.
The Glorious First of June, 1794 was the first and largest fleet action of the naval conflict between Britain and the French during the French Revolutionary Wars. The British, under Admiral Lord Howe, attempted to prevent the passage of a vital grain convoy from the United States, which was protected by the French fleet commanded by Vice-Admiral Louis Thomas Villaret de Joyeuse. The two forces clashed in the Atlantic Ocean, some 400 nautical miles west of the French island of Ushant, on the first of June 1794. During the battle, Howe defied naval convention by ordering his fleet to turn towards the French and for each of his vessels to rake and engage their immediate opponent. This unexpected order was not understood by all of his captains, and as a result his attack, though successful, was more piecemeal than he intended. In the course of the battle the two fleets were so severely damaged that both Howe and Villaret were compelled to return to their home ports.
Both sides claimed victory and the outcome of the battle was seized upon by the press of both countries as a demonstration of the prowess and bravery of their respective navies. France because, despite losing seven of his ships, Villaret had successfully bought enough time for the grain convoy to reach safety unimpeded by Howe's fleet and Britain because, since the French were forced to withdraw their battle-fleet to port, they were left free to conduct a campaign of blockade for the remainder of the war.*Alex
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1795 AE Halfpenny, Glamorgan, South Wales.Obverse: JESTYN • AP • GWRGAN • TYWYSOG • MORGANWG • 1091•. Crowned and robed bust of Jestyn ap Gwrgan facing left, wearing a small shield bearing the St George's cross suspended on a chain round his neck.
Reverse: Y • BRENHIN • AR • GYFRAITH •. Britannia facing left, seated on a globe, her right hand pointing to a ship, her left supporting a shield and a spear; behind her a cippus with a crown on top and a laurel branch leaning against it; in exergue, 1795.
Edge: "GLAMORGAN HALFPENNY" in raised letters, followed by three leaves.
Diameter: 29mm
Dalton & Hamer: 3b (Glamorganshire)
This token is thought to have been engraved and manufactured by John Stubbs Jordan, a Birmingham ironfounder for his father, William Jordan, who had returned to South Wales, possibly to Merthyr Tydfil. The Jordans were of Welsh descent and had come to Staffordshire earlier in the century. The father, William Jordan, a victualler from Weaman Street, Birmingham, retired and moved back to South Wales in the early 1780s and in 1794 his son, John Stubbs Jordan, who had remained back in Birmingham, made this Welsh token for his father as a private piece.
This is the only eighteenth century token with Welsh legends.
Jestyn ap Gwrgan, or Gwrgant, was the last Prince and Lord of Glamorgan of British blood. He was of the royal house of Morganwg, which had a lineage stretching back over five centuries to Tewdrig (c.550-584 C.E.). The members of this royal house had links to the other royal houses of Wales through marriage, and were descendants of the celebrated Rhodri Mawr. Jestyn ap Gwrgan's base is believed to have been at Dinas Powis, south of Cardiff. He probably ruled Glamorgan for a little less than a decade around 1081-1090 C.E.
The popular version of historical events is that Jestyn, following a dispute with his rival Einion ap Collwyn, invited the Norman ruler Robert Fitzhamon, lord of Gloucester, and his twelve knights into the region to settle the matter. Once invited in, the Normans refused to leave, Jestyn was deposed and Fitzhamon, having established a lordship based in Cardiff, subsequently conquered the lowlands of Glamorgan, which was parcelled out to his followers. The undesirable mountainous parts of Glamorgan Fitzhamon left in Welsh control. However this story, dating from at least the 15th century, where it touches known historical facts, is demonstrably wrong.
Nowadays there are many people living in South Wales with the surname of Williams who claim to be descended from Jestyn ap Gwrgan. This is not impossible because Jestyn ap Gwrgan had a large family. Notable people who may have been descended from Jestyn ap Gwrgan are the Tudor Monarchs of England, Oliver Cromwell (whose real surname was Williams) and also, being of Welsh descent, Winston Churchill, Princess Diana and several Presidents of The United States of America.*Alex
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1795 AE Halfpenny, Portsmouth, Hampshire.Obverse: IOHN HOWARD F.R.S. PHILANTHROPIST •. Bust of John Howard facing left.
Reverse: RULE BRITANNIA. Britannia facing left, seated on globe, her right hand holding spear, her left arm holding laurel-branch and resting on shield at her side; in exergue, 1795.
Edge: “CURRENT EVERY WHERE ♦ ♦ ♦ ♦”
Diameter: 29mm
Dalton & Hamer: 57b
The dies for this token were likely engraved by Thomas Wyon and it was probably manufactured by Peter Kempson at his mint in Birmingham.
The Fitzwilliam Museum regards Liverpool as an alternative possibility for the place of issue.
These 18th century tokens are often generically referred to as “Conder” tokens, the name originating from James Conder, a linen draper from Tavern Street in Ipswich. Conder was an ardent collector of tokens and the author of the standard work on the subject until it was superseded by that of Atkins in 1892.
John Howard was born in Lower Clapton, London the son of a wealthy upholsterer. After the death of his father in 1742, he received a sizeable inheritance. Since he was wealthy and had no true vocation, in 1748 Howard left England and began to travel. However, while in Hanover he was captured by French privateers and imprisoned. It was this experience that made him consider the conditions in which prisoners were held.
In 1758 Howard returned to England and settled in Cardington, Bedfordshire. As a landowner he was philanthropic and enlightened, ensuring that his estate housing was of good standard and that the poor houses under his management were well run.
In 1773 he became High Sheriff of Bedfordshire. On his appointment he began a tour of English prisons which led to two Acts of Parliament in 1774, making gaolers salaried officers and setting standards of cleanliness.
In April 1777, Howard's sister died leaving him £15,000 and her house. He used this inheritance and the revenue from the sale of her house to further his work on prisons. In 1778 he was examined by the House of Commons, who were this time inquiring into prison ships, or “hulks”. Two days after giving evidence, he was again travelling Europe, beginning in the Dutch Republic.
His final journey took him into Eastern Europe and Russia. Whilst at Kherson, in what is now Ukraine, Howard contracted typhus on a prison visit and died. He was buried on the shores of the Black Sea in a walled field at Dophinovka (Stepanovka), Ukraine. Despite requesting a quiet funeral without pomp and ceremony, the event was elaborate and attended by the Prince of Moldovia.
Howard became the first civilian to be honoured with a statue in St Paul's Cathedral, London. A statue was also erected in Bedford, and another one in Kherson. John Howard's bust can still be seen as a feature in the architecture of a number of Victorian prisons across the UK.*Alex
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1797 AE Halfpenny Token. Perth, Scotland.Obverse: PRO REGE LEGE ET GREGE (For King, Law and Flock). Coat of Arms of the City of Perth consisting of double-headed eagle with shield, displaying lamb holding saltire flag.
Reverse: PERTH • HALFPENNY • • • •. A hank of yarn above a package of dressed flax; 17 - 97 across field.
Edge: Incuse legend “PAYABLE AT THE HOUSE OF PAT. K MAXWELL X X".
Diameter: 29mm.
Dalton & Hamer: 9
SCARCE
This token was issued by Patrick Maxwell, a grocer and spirit dealer on the High Street in Perth. In later years this business became known as Maxwell & Son. The hank of yarn and bale of flax refers to the linen trade in the town which was its main industry at the time of this token’s issue.
This token was engraved and manufactured by Joseph Kendrick at his works in Birmingham, England. *Alex
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1797 AE Halfpenny, Middlesex County.Obverse: FREDk. DUKE OF YORK. Bare headed bust of Frederick Augustus, Duke of York, facing right; HALFPENNY 1795 in two lines below.
Reverse: RULE BRITANNIA. Britannia seated on globe facing left, left arm resting on shield and holding laurel-branch, right hand holding spear, ship's masts in front of her in background; 1797 in exergue.
Edge: Plain.
Diameter: 27mm | Die Axis: 6h | Obverse die flaw.
Dalton & Hamer: 990. Cobwright No: F.0010/R.0010. Not in Atkins.
Manufactured by William Lutwyche, Birmingham.
In the 18th century, token manufacturers often used their dies to their own advantage by striking “mules”, solely with the object of creating rare varieties which were sold to the collectors of the day.
Prince Frederick Augustus, Duke of York and Albany, was born on16th August 1763. He was the second eldest child, and second son, of King George III. Thrust into the British army at a very young age he was appointed a colonel by his father on 4th November 1780 when he was only 17 years old. He was created Duke of York and Albany on 27th November 1784.
On 26th May 1789 he took part a duel with Colonel Charles Lennox, who had insulted him; Lennox missed and Prince Frederick honourably refused to return fire.
On 12th April 1793 he was promoted to a full general and sent to Flanders in command of the British contingent destined for the invasion of France. Frederick's command fought under extremely trying conditions and though he won several notable engagements, he was defeated at the Battle of Hondschoote in September 1793. Then, in the 1794 campaign, he was successful at the battle of Willems in May but was defeated at the Battle of Tourcoing later that month.
Promoted to the rank of field marshal, on 3rd April 1795 he became effective Commander-in-Chief in succession to Lord Amherst and went with the army sent for the Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland in August 1799. A number of disasters befell the allied forces however and, on 17th October, the Duke signed the Convention of Alkmaar, by which the allied expedition withdrew after giving up its prisoners.
These military setbacks led to Frederick being mocked in the rhyme "The Grand Old Duke of York":
The grand old Duke of York,
He had ten thousand men.
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again.
And when they were up, they were up.
And when they were down, they were down.
And when they were only halfway up,
They were neither up nor down.
However, Frederick's experience in the Dutch campaign had demonstrated the numerous weaknesses of the British army after years of neglect so he carried through a massive programme of reform and he was the person most responsible for creating the force which served in the Peninsular War.
Frederick died of dropsy and apparent cardioid-vascular disease at the home of the Duke of Rutland on Arlington Street, London, on 5th January, 1827. After lying in state in London, his remains were interred in St. George's Chapel, at Windsor.*Alex
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1811 AE HALFPENNY, Norwich, Norfolk.Obverse: NORWICH MDCCCXI. The arms of Norwich consisting of a heraldic shield containing a three towered castle above a lion passant.
Reverse: NEWTON SILVERSMTH AND JEWELLER. Britannia standing facing right, holding spear and shield, behind her, at her side, lion walking right.
Edge: Centre grained.
Diameter: 27mm
Davis 26 | Withers 923
Issued by Francis Newton, a silversmith and Jeweller in Norwich. This is possibly the same Francis Newton (or a close relative) who, in a circular to bankers, was declared bankrupt by solicitors Messrs Bignold, Pulley and Mawe of New Bridge Street, at a meeting in the Rampant Horse Inn, Norwich on 5th August, 1835.
Norwich is situated on the River Wensum and is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom. Until the Industrial Revolution, Norwich was the capital of the most populous county in the country and vied with Bristol as England's second city.*Alex
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1812 AE Penny Token. Hull, Yorkshire.Obverse: No legend. View of Hull lead works with smoking chimneys in background; 1812 in exergue.
Reverse: PAYABLE IN BANK OF ENG.D OR HULL NOTES BY I.K.PICARD • around ONE PENNY / HULL / LEAD / WORKS in four lines with ornament below.
Edge: Grained.
Diameter 34mm | Die Axis 7
Davis: 82
The dies for this token were engraved by Thomas Halliday and it was manufactured by Edward Thomason.
The token was issued by John Kirby Picard, who had practised as an attorney-at-law in Trinity House-lane, become a barrister and been chosen as a Deputy-Recorder of Hull before he entered into the lead business of his father. He was a man of considerable wealth and frequently visited London on business and for pleasure. He mixed with the 'high' society of the period but became addicted to gambling. Picard used his tokens for the gambling parties he held in his house and after they gained the attention of the Prince Regent, the later George IV, he was invited to show them at court.
No mention of Picard has been found in any of the London Directories, but the 'London Gazette', on February 13th, 1827, announced that J. K. Pickard (sic), white lead merchant, Russell Street, Covent Garden, had been declared bankrupt. Picard died in reduced circumstances in 1843.
The legend “PAYABLE IN BANK OF ENGLAND NOTES” was placed on this token due to an Act of Parliament which was passed in 1809 requiring issuers of local tokens to meet claims for repayment in Bank of England notes. The government having seen the widespread use of private coinage in the form of tokens realised how much money was not being controlled by it, so by passing this act it effectively made these tokens into defacto currency. *Alex
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1813 AE Penny, Sheffield, Yorkshire.Obverse: PAYABLE AT S. HOBSON & SON's, BUTTON MANUFACTURERS, incuse letters on a raised rim. Arms consisting of eight arrows arranged saltirewise, bound together with a ribbon; pheon on either side; above, a facing winged cherubim; below, SHEFFIELD.
Reverse: ONE PENNY TOKEN 1813 incuse letters on a raised rim. Britannia seated facing left on shield, holding olive branch and trident, small ship in left background; small “H” (for Halliday) below shield.
Edge: Centre-grained.
Diameter 34mm
Davis:138
The dies for this token were engraved by Thomas Halliday (c.1780-1854). Active in the early 19th century, Halliday originally worked as an engraver at Matthew Boulton's Soho Mint in Handsworth and set up on his own as a medallist and token-producer from 1801. Established in Newhall Street, Birmingham about 1810, he engraved dies for the trade, or engraved and manufactured tokens and medals at his own works for all traders who wished to issue them.
This token was issued by Hobson & Son who were button manufacturers with a business in Sheffield.*Alex
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1813 AE Penny, Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham.Obverse: CHRISTOPHER & JENNETT * STOCKTON *, incuse letters on a raised rim. View of the bridge over the Tees being crossed by several small figures including a rider on horse, rowing boat containing two figures in river below; in field above, TEES; in field below, 1813.
Reverse: BRITANNIA * ONE PENNY TOKEN *, incuse letters on a raised rim. Britannia seated facing left on shield, holding olive branch and trident, small ship in left background at her feet.
Edge: Centre-grained.
Diameter 34mm | Weight 19.7gms
Davis:6 | Withers:1109
The die engraver for this token was Peter Wyon. It was issued by Robert Christopher & Thomas Jennett who were booksellers and printers in Stockton, they were also the Stockton agents for the Sun Fire Office.
Jennett was Christopher's apprentice and on the completion of his indentures, he was taken into partnership. Matching the high standards of his companion, Jennett became well known and much respected, growing to be a man of power and influence. He became a magistrate and was mayor of Stockton three times.
The bridge shown on this token was the first bridge to serve the growing town of Stockton, it was a five arch stone bridge which was completed in 1769. Before the existence of the bridge at this location, the only way of crossing the Tees was by the Bishop’s Ferry. The bridge was subject to rent to the Bishop of Durham and the costs of building it had to be repaid, so a system of tolls was charged. These were supposed to be abolished as soon as the debt was cleared, but they remained in place until, in 1819, the local people took the law into their own hands, throwing two of the bridge gates into the river and burning the third gate in the High Street. Although the bridge was good news for Stockton’s business, it had a devastating impact on Yarm. As ships were growing in size at this time, the building of the bridge prevented many ships reaching Yarm because they were unable to navigate further up the river. This only heightened shipping in Stockton and affirmed its place as the main port on the Tees before the 1800s. The bridge also halted Yarm’s shipbuilding industry and, since Stockton was unaffected, yards sprang up east of the bridge towards the sea. By 1876 the old bridge was inadequate and in 1881 work was begun on a new bridge. This new bridge, named the ‘Victoria Bridge’ in recognition of Queen Victoria, was opened in 1887 and the old stone bridge was demolished.*Alex
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1843 "BENJAMIN NIGHTINGALE" AE Halfpenny Token. London, MiddlesexObverse: VILIUS EST ARGENTUM AURO, VIRTUTIBUS AURUM. Female, leaning on books behind her, holding a cornucopia from which coins are spilling, seated facing right in front of an open coin cabinet; in exergue, tudor rose on shield between two branches.
Reverse: BENJAMIN NIGHTINGALE LONDON * PRIVATE TOKEN * 1843 surrounding “BN” monogram in script.
Edge: Plain.
Diameter: 30mm | Weight: 14.2gms | Die Axis: 12
Bell (Middlesex) A3
VERY RARE (Only 72 of these bronzed copper halfpenny tokens were struck)
Privately issued in London by Benjamin Nightingale, the die sinker for this token was William Joseph Taylor (whose initials WJT can be seen to the left below the books on the obverse), following a similar design for halfpennies that he had produced for Matthew Young, a British merchant. Taylor was born in Birmingham in 1802 and was apprenticed to Thomas Halliday in 1818 as the first die-sinker to be trained by him. He set up his own business as a die-sinker, medallist and engraver at 5 Porter Street, Soho, London in 1829, later moving to 3 Lichfield Street, Birmingham. In 1843 the business moved to 33 Little Queen Street and finally, in 1869, to 70 Red Lion Street where, in 1885, Taylor died.
The Soho Mint at Birmingham (founded by Matthew Boulton) closed in 1848, and it's plant and equipment was sold via auction in April 1850. Taylor purchased many of the Soho Mint's hubs and dies from this auction and used them to restrike many of the coins & patterns that the Soho Mint had struck between the 1790's and the 1840's, though he nearly always re-polished or re-engraved elements of the original dies before re-using them.
Benjamin Nightingale was a wine and spirit merchant who lived at 17 Upper Stamford Street, Blackfriars Road in London. He was born in 1806 and died on March 9th, 1862. He was a well known Antiquarian and was a member of the Numismatic Society of London.
In 1863, after his death, Benjamin Nightingale's collection, consisting of 359 lots, was sold over a two day period by Sotheby's. This is from the February 13, 1863 edition of the London Daily News (page 8, column 6).
THE VALUABLE CABINET of COINS and MEDALS of the late BENJAMIN NIGHTINGALE, Esq.
MESSRS S. LEIGH SOTHEBY and WILKINSON, auctioneers of literary property and works illustrative of the fine arts, will SELL BY AUCTION, at their house, No. 13 (late 3), Wellington-street, Strand, W.C., on WEDNESDAY, Feb. 25, and following day, at 1 precisely, the valuable CABINET OF COINS and MEDALS of the late Benjamin Nightingale, Esq.; comprising a few Roman coins in gold, silver, and copper, in the highest state of preservation; a most valuable collection of English medals in all metals; rare and curious jetons, including a very perfect set of those struck to illustrate the history of the low countries; a few remarkable foreign medals, a choice library of numismatic books, several well-made cabinets, & c. – May be viewed two days previous, and catalogues had on receipt of two stamps.
According to Manville and Robertson, prior to his death, Benjamin Nightingale had sold off part of his collection at an auction by Sotheby's on 29th Nov. 1855.
"Benjamin NIGHTINGALE" in ANS copy; Greek, Roman, Tavern Tokens, Town Pieces, 17-18c Tokens, English and Foreign Medals, Books; 165 lots. -Curtis Clay.
The inspiration for these tokens might have been Pye's 1797 halfpenny (Warwickshire 223) which is of a similar design.
 *Alex
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1875 "H" VICTORIA BRONZE "BUN HEAD" FARTHINGObverse: VICTORIA D:G: BRITT:REG:F:D: "Bun head" bust of Queen Victoria with elderly features facing left.
Reverse: FARTHING. Britannia seated facing right, her right hand resting on shield, her left holding a trident; in left background, a lighthouse and in right background, a ship; 1875, small "H" below, in exergue.
Diameter: 20mm
SPINK: 3959
Victoria's "bun head" portrait was designed by Leonard Charles Wyon (1826 - 1891), he was the eldest son of William Wyon, who had previously designed the "young head" portrait of the Queen. The letters L C WYON are incuse amongst the ornamentation of the Queen's dress.
On 1st April 1850 the auction was announced of equipment from the defunct Soho Mint, created by Matthew Boulton around 1788. At the auction, on 29th April, Ralph Heaton II bought Boulton's four steam-powered screw presses and six planchet presses for making blanks from strip metal. These were installed at Heaton's Bath Street works, and his Birmingham Mint began to strike trade tokens for use in Australia. In 1851 copper planchets were made for the Royal Mint to make into pennies, halfpennies, farthings, half-farthings and quarter-farthings.
In 1853 the Royal Mint was overwhelmed with producing silver and gold coins and so Ralph Heaton and Sons won their first contract to strike finished coins for Britain, these coins had no mintmark to identify them as from Birmingham.
In 1860 the firm bought a 1-acre plot on Icknield Street and constructed a three storey red brick factory. Completed in 1862 and employing 300 staff, it was at this time the largest private mint in the world.
From 1874 the Birmingham Mint began striking bronze pennies, halfpennies and farthings for the Royal Mint. This time though, the Birmingham Mint issues are distinguished by an H (for Heaton) mintmark below the date on the reverse. Victorian British coins bearing the H mintmark were produced in 1874, 1875, 1876, 1881 and 1882.*Alex
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1876 "H" VICTORIA BRONZE "BUN HEAD" HALFPENNYObv: VICTORIA D:G: BRITT:REG:FID:DEF: "Bun head" bust of Queen Victoria with elderly features facing left.
Rev: HALF PENNY. Britannia seated facing right, her right hand resting on shield, her left holding a trident; in left background, a lighthouse and in right background, a ship; 1876, small H below, in exergue.
SPINK: 3957
Victoria's "bun head" portrait was designed by Leonard Charles Wyon (1826 - 1891), he was the eldest son of William Wyon, who had previously designed the "young head" portrait of the Queen. The letters L C WYON are incuse amongst the ornamentation of the Queen's dress.
On 1st April 1850 the auction was announced of equipment from the defunct Soho Mint, created by Matthew Boulton around 1788. At the auction, on 29th April, Ralph Heaton II bought Boulton's four steam-powered screw presses and six planchet presses for making blanks from strip metal. These were installed at Heaton's Bath Street works, and his Birmingham Mint began to strike trade tokens for use in Australia. In 1851 copper planchets were made for the Royal Mint to make into pennies, halfpennies, farthings, half-farthings and quarter-farthings.
In 1853 the Royal Mint was overwhelmed with producing silver and gold coins and so Ralph Heaton and Sons won their first contract to strike finished coins for Britain, these coins had no mintmark to identify them as from Birmingham.
In 1860 the firm bought a 1-acre plot on Icknield Street and constructed a three storey red brick factory. Completed in 1862 and employing 300 staff, it was at this time the largest private mint in the world.
From 1874 the Birmingham Mint began striking bronze pennies, halfpennies and farthings for the Royal Mint. This time though, the Birmingham Mint issues are distinguished by an H (for Heaton) mintmark below the date on the reverse. Victorian British coins bearing the H mintmark were produced in 1874, 1875, 1876, 1881 and 1882.*Alex
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1876 "H" VICTORIA BRONZE "BUN HEAD" PENNYObv: VICTORIA D:G: BRITT:REG:FID:DEF: "Bun head" bust of Queen Victoria with elderly features facing left.
Rev: ONE PENNY. Britannia seated facing right, her right hand resting on shield, her left holding a trident; in left background, a lighthouse and in right background, a ship; 1876, small H below, in exergue.
SPINK: 3955
Victoria's "bun head" portrait was designed by Leonard Charles Wyon (1826 - 1891), he was the eldest son of William Wyon, who had previously designed the "young head" portrait of the Queen. The letters L C WYON are incuse amongst the ornamentation of the Queen's dress.
On 1st April 1850 the auction was announced of equipment from the defunct Soho Mint, created by Matthew Boulton around 1788. At the auction, on 29th April, Ralph Heaton II bought Boulton's four steam-powered screw presses and six planchet presses for making blanks from strip metal. These were installed at Heaton's Bath Street works, and his Birmingham Mint began to strike trade tokens for use in Australia. In 1851 copper planchets were made for the Royal Mint to make into pennies, halfpennies, farthings, half-farthings and quarter-farthings.
In 1853 the Royal Mint was overwhelmed with producing silver and gold coins and so Ralph Heaton and Sons won their first contract to strike finished coins for Britain, these coins had no mintmark to identify them as from Birmingham.
In 1860 the firm bought a 1-acre plot on Icknield Street and constructed a three storey red brick factory. Completed in 1862 and employing 300 staff, it was at this time the largest private mint in the world.
From 1874 the Birmingham Mint began striking bronze pennies, halfpennies and farthings for the Royal Mint. This time though, the Birmingham Mint issues are distinguished by an H (for Heaton) mintmark below the date on the reverse. Victorian British coins bearing the H mintmark were produced in 1874, 1875, 1876, 1881 and 1882.*Alex
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1ar Nero54-68
As
Bare head, right, IMP NERO CAESAR AVG P MAX TR P P P
Genius, GENIO AVGVSTI
RIC 86
Suetonius wrote: Nero was born nine months after the death of Tiberius, at Antium, at sunrise on the 15th of December (AD 37). . . . While he was still a young stripling he took part in a successful performance of the Troy Game in the Circus, in which he exhibited great self-possession. At the age of twelve or so (sometime in AD 50), he was adopted by Claudius, who appointed Annaeus Seneca, already a member of the Senate, as his tutor. The following night, it is said, Seneca dreamed that his young charge was really Caligula, and Nero soon proved the dream prophetic by seizing the first opportunity to reveal his cruel disposition. . . . After Claudius’s death (AD 54) had been announced publicly, Nero, who was not quite seventeen years old, decided to address the Guards in the late afternoon, since inauspicious omens that day had ruled out an earlier appearance. After being acclaimed Emperor on the Palace steps, he was carried in a litter to the Praetorian Camp where he spoke to the Guards, and then to the House where he stayed until evening. He refused only one of the many honours that were heaped upon him, that of ‘Father of the Country’, and declined that simply on account of his youth.
Eutropius summarized: To him succeeded NERO, who greatly resembled his uncle Caligula, and both disgraced and weakened the Roman empire; he indulged in such extraordinary luxury and extravagance, that, after the example of Caius Caligula, he even bathed in hot and cold perfumes, and fished with golden nets, which he drew up with cords of purple silk. He put to death a very great number of the senate. To all good men he was an enemy. At last he exposed himself in so disgraceful a manner, that he danced and sung upon the stage in the dress of a harp-player and tragedian. He was guilty of many murders, his brother, wife, and mother, being put to death by him. He set on fire the city of Rome, that he might enjoy the sight of a spectacle such as Troy formerly presented when taken and burned.
In military affairs he attempted nothing. Britain he almost lost; for two of its most noble towns4 were taken and levelled to the ground under his reign. The Parthians took from him Armenia, and compelled the Roman legions to pass under the yoke. Two provinces however were formed under him; Pontus Polemoniacus, by the concession of King Polemon; and the Cottian Alps, on the death of King Cottius.
15 When, having become detestable by such conduct to the city of Rome, and being deserted at the same time by every one, and declared an enemy by the senate, he was sought for to be led to punishment (the punishment being, that he should be dragged naked through the streets, with a fork placed under his head,5 be beaten to death with rods, and then hurled from the Tarpeian rock), he fled from the palace, and killed himself in a suburban villa of one of his freed-men, between the Salarian and Nomentane roads, at the fourth milestone from the city. He built those hot baths at Rome, which were formerly called the Neronian, but now the Alexandrian. He died in the thirty-second year of his age, and the fourteenth year of his reign; and in him all the family of Augustus became extinct.
Having successfully dispatched his scheming mother Agrippina in 59 and survived a decade on the throne, Nero must have felt like a genius when this was minted ca 64 AD!Blindado
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1at Galba68-69
Denarius
Laureate head, right, SER GALBA IMP CAESAR AVG P M TR P
Victory standing on globe, VICTORIA PR
RIC 111
Suetonius recorded: Servius Galba, the future emperor was born on the 24th of December, 3BC, in the consulship of Marcus Valerius Messala and Gnaeus Lentulus, at a hillside mansion near Terracina, on the left of the road to Fundi (Fondi). He was formally adopted by his stepmother Livia Ocellina, and took the name Livius and the surname Ocella, also changing his forename to Lucius, until he became Emperor.
It is common knowledge that when calling on Augustus to pay his respects, with other boys of his age, the Emperor pinched his cheek, and said in Greek: ‘You too will have a taste of power, my child.’ And when Tiberius heard the prophecy that Galba would be emperor in old age, he commented: ‘Well let him be, it’s no concern of mine.’
Galba achieved office before the usual age and as praetor (in 20AD), controlling the games at the Floralia, he was the first to introduce a display of tightrope-walking elephants. He next governed Aquitania, for almost a year, and not long afterwards held the consulship for six months (in 33AD). When Caligula was assassinated (in 41AD), Galba chose neutrality though many urged him to seize the opportunity for power. Claudius expressed his gratitude by including him among his intimate friends, and Galba was shown such consideration that the expedition to Britain was delayed to allow him to recover from a sudden but minor indisposition. Later he was proconsul in Africa for two years (44/45AD), being singled out, and so avoiding the usual lottery, to restore order in the province, which was riven by internecine rivalry and an indigenous revolt. He re-established peace, by the exercise of ruthless discipline, and the display of justice even in the most trifling matters. . . .
But when word from the City arrived that Nero was dead and that the people had sworn allegiance to him, he set aside the title of governor and assumed that of Caesar. He then began his march to Rome in a general’s cloak, with a dagger, hanging from his neck, at his chest, and did not resume the toga until his main rivals had been eliminated, namely the commander of the Praetorian Guard in Rome, Nymphidius Sabinus, and the commanders in Germany and Africa, Fonteius Capito and Clodius Macer. . . . His prestige and popularity were greater while winning power than wielding it, though he showed evidence of being a more than capable ruler, loved less, unfortunately, for his good qualities than he was hated for his bad ones.
He was even warned of the danger of imminent assassination, the day before his death, by a soothsayer, as he offered the morning sacrifice. Shortly afterwards he learnt that Otho had secured the Guards camp, and when his staff advised him to carry the day by his presence and prestige, by going there immediately, he opted instead to stay put, but gather a strong bodyguard of legionaries from their billets around the City. He did however don a linen corselet, though saying that frankly it would serve little against so many weapons. False reports, put about by the conspirators to lure him into appearing in public, deceived a few of his close supporters, who rashly told him the rebellion was over, the plotters overthrown, and that the rest of the troops were on their way to congratulate him and carry out his orders. So he went to meet them, with such confidence, that when a soldier boasted of killing Otho, he snapped out: ‘On whose authority?’ before hastening on to the Forum. The cavalrymen who had been ordered to find and kill him, who were spurring through the streets scattering the crowds of civilians, now caught sight of him in the distance and halted an instant before galloping towards him and cutting him down, while his staff ran for their lives.Blindado
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1cj Balbinus238
Sestertius
Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust, right, seen from front, right, IMP CAES D CAEL BALBINVS AVG
Felicitas standing facing, head left, holding caduceus in right hand, PM TR P COS II PP SC
RIC 18
Herodian wrote, continuing the story of the rebellions against Maximinus: When the death of the elder Gordian was reported at Rome, . . . the senate therefore thought it best to meet and consider what should be done. Since they had already cast the die, they voted to issue a declaration of war and choose two men from their own ranks to be joint emperors. . . . Other senators received votes, but on the final count [Pupienus] Maximus and Balbinus were elected joint emperors by majority opinion. . . .
[Pupienus] had held many army commands; appointed prefect of Rome, he administered the office with diligence and enjoyed among the people a good reputation for his understanding nature, his intelligence, and his moderate way of life. Balbinus, an aristocrat who had twice served as consul and had governed provinces without complaint, had a more open and frank nature. After their election, the two men were proclaimed Augusti, and the Senate awarded them by decree all the imperial honors.
While these actions were being taken on the Capitoline Hill, the people, whether they were informed by Gordian's friends and fellow countrymen or whether they learned it by rumor, filled the entire street leading up to the Capitol. The huge mob was armed with stones and clubs, for they objected to the Senate's action and particularly disapproved of [Pupienus]. The prefect ruled the city too strictly for the popular taste, and was very harsh in his dealings with the criminal and reckless elements of the mob. In their fear and dislike of [Pupienus], they kept shouting threats to kill both emperors, determined that the emperor be chosen from the family of Gordian and that the title remain in that house and under that name.
Balbinus and [Pupienus] surrounded themselves with an escort of swordsmen from the young equestrians and the discharged soldiers living in Rome, and tried to force their way from the Capitol. The mob, armed with stones and clubs, prevented this until, at someone's suggestion, the people were deceived. There was in Rome at that time a little child, the son of Gordian's daughter, who bore his grandfather's name.
The two emperors ordered some of their men to bring the child to the Capitol. Finding the lad playing at home, they lifted him to their shoulders and brought him to the Capitol through the midst of the crowd. Showing the boy to the people and telling them that he was the son of Gordian, they called him "Gordian," while the mob cheered the boy and scattered leaves in his path. The senate appointed him caesar, since he was not old enough to be emperor. The mob, placated, allowed the imperial party to proceed to the palace.
Blindado
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1cl Gordian III238-244
Antoninianus
Radiate, draped & cuirassed bust, right, IMP GORDINVS PIVS FEL AVG
Laetitia standing right with wreath & anchor, LAETITIA AVG N
RIC 86
Continuing his story of the deaths of Balbinus and Pupienus, Herodian wrote: Leaving the corpses exposed in the street, the praetorians took up Gordian Caesar and proclaimed him emperor, since at the moment they could find no other candidate for the office. Proclaiming that they had only killed the men whom the people did not want to rule them in the first place, they chose as emperor this Gordian who was descended from the Gordian whom the Romans themselves had forced to accept the rule. Keeping their emperor Gordian with them, they went off to the praetorian camp. . . . Gordian, at the age of about thirteen, was designated emperor and assumed the burden of the Roman empire. . . .
Eutropius continued the story: After Gordian, when quite a boy, had married Tranquillina at Rome, he opened the temple of Janus, and, setting out for the east, made war upon the Parthians, who were then proceeding to make an irruption. This war he soon conducted with success, and made havoc of the Persians in great battles. As he was returning, he was killed, not far from the Roman boundaries, by the treachery of Philip who reigned after him. The Roman soldiers raised a monument for him, twenty miles from Circessus, which is now a fortress of the Romans, overlooking the Euphrates. His relics they brought to Rome, and gave him the title of god. Blindado
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703a, Tiberius, 19 August 14 - 16 March 37 A.D., Tribute Penny of Matthew 22:20-21Silver denarius, RIC I 30, RSC II 16a, SRCV 1763, gVF, Lugdunum mint, 3.837g, 18.7mm, 90o, 16 - 37 A.D.; obverse TI CAESAR DIVI AVG F AVGVSTVS, laureate head right; reverse PONTIF MAXIM, Pax/Livia seated right holding scepter and branch, legs on chair ornamented, feet on footstool; toned. Ex FORVM.
De Imperatoribus Romanis
An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors
Tiberius (A.D. 14-37)
Garrett G. Fagan
Pennsylvania State University
Introduction
The reign of Tiberius (b. 42 B.C., d. A.D. 37, emperor A.D. 14-37) is a particularly important one for the Principate, since it was the first occasion when the powers designed for Augustus alone were exercised by somebody else. In contrast to the approachable and tactful Augustus, Tiberius emerges from the sources as an enigmatic and darkly complex figure, intelligent and cunning, but given to bouts of severe depression and dark moods that had a great impact on his political career as well as his personal relationships.
. . . .
Early life (42-12 B.C.)
Tiberius Claudius Nero was born on 16 November 42 B.C. to Ti. Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. Both parents were scions of the gens Claudia which had supplied leaders to the Roman Republic for many generations. . . [I]n 39 B.C., his mother Livia divorced Ti. Claudius Nero and married Octavian, thereby making the infant Tiberius the stepson of the future ruler of the Roman world. Forever afterward, Tiberius was to have his name coupled with this man, and always to his detriment.
. . . .
Accession and Early Reign (A.D. 14 - 23)
The accession of Tiberius proved intensely awkward. After Augustus had been buried and deified, and his will read and honored, the Senate convened on 18 September to inaugurate the new reign and officially "confirm" Tiberius as emperor. Such a transfer of power had never happened before, and nobody, including Tiberius, appears to have known what to do. Tacitus's account is the fullest. . . Rather than tactful, he came across to the senators as obdurate and obstructive. He declared that he was too old for the responsibilities of the Principate, said he did not want the job, and asked if he could just take one part of the government for himself. The Senate was confused, not knowing how to read his behavior. Finally, one senator asked pointedly, "Sire, for how long will you allow the State to be without a head?" Tiberius relented and accepted the powers voted to him, although he refused the title "Augustus."
. . . .
Tiberius allowed a trusted advisor to get too close and gain a tremendous influence over him. That advisor was the Praetorian Prefect, L. Aelius Sejanus, who would derail Tiberius's plans for the succession and drive the emperor farther into isolation, depression, and paranoia.
Sejanus (A.D. 23-31)
Sejanus hailed from Volsinii in Etruria. He and his father shared the Praetorian Prefecture until A.D. 15 when the father, L. Seius Strabo, was promoted to be Prefect of Egypt, the pinnacle of an equestrian career under the Principate. Sejanus, now sole Prefect of the Guard, enjoyed powerful connections to senatorial houses and had been a companion to Gaius Caesar on his mission to the East, 1 B.C. - A.D. 4. Through a combination of energetic efficiency, fawning sycophancy, and outward displays of loyalty, he gained the position of Tiberius's closest friend and advisor.
. . . .
[I]n a shocking and unexpected turn of events, [a] letter sent by Tiberius from Capri initially praised Sejanus extensively, and then suddenly denounced him as a traitor and demanded his arrest. Chaos ensued. Senators long allied with Sejanus headed for the exits, the others were confused -- was this a test of their loyalty? What did the emperor want them to do? -- but the Praetorian Guard, the very troops formerly under Sejanus's command but recently and secretly transferred to the command of Q. Sutorius Macro, arrested Sejanus, conveyed him to prison, and shortly afterwards executed him summarily. A witch-hunt followed. . . All around the city, grim scenes were played out, and as late as A.D. 33 a general massacre of all those still in custody took place.
Tiberius himself later claimed that he turned on Sejanus because he had been alerted to Sejanus's plot against Germanicus's family. This explanation has been rejected by most ancient and modern authorities, since Sejanus's demise did nothing to alleviate that family's troubles.
. . . .
The Last Years (A.D. 31-37)
The Sejanus affair appears to have greatly depressed Tiberius. A close friend and confidant had betrayed him; whom could he trust anymore? His withdrawal from public life seemed more complete in the last years. Letters kept him in touch with Rome, but it was the machinery of the Augustan administration that kept the empire running smoothly. Tiberius, if we believe our sources, spent much of his time indulging his perversities on Capri.
. . . .
Tiberius died quietly in a villa at Misenum on 16 March A.D. 37. He was 78 years old. There are some hints in the sources of the hand of Caligula in the deed, but such innuendo can be expected at the death of an emperor, especially when his successor proved so depraved. The level of unpopularity Tiberius had achieved by the time of his death with both the upper and lower classes is revealed by these facts: the Senate refused to vote him divine honors, and mobs filled the streets yelling "To the Tiber with Tiberius!" (in reference to a method of disposal reserved for the corpses of criminals).
Tiberius and the Empire
Three main aspects of Tiberius's impact on the empire deserve special attention: his relative military inertia; his modesty in dealing with offers of divine honors and his fair treatment of provincials; and his use of the Law of Treason (maiestas).
. . . .
Conclusion
. . . Tiberius's reign sporadically descended into tyranny of the worst sort. In the right climate of paranoia and suspicion, widespread denunciation led to the deaths of dozens of Senators and equestrians, as well as numerous members of the imperial house. In this sense, the reign of Tiberius decisively ended the Augustan illusion of "the Republic Restored" and shone some light into the future of the Principate, revealing that which was both promising and terrifying.
[For the entire article please refer to http://www.roman-emperors.org/tiberius.htm]
Copyright © 1997, Garrett G. Fagan. Used by permission.
"Some of the things he did are hard to believe. He had little boys trained as minnows to chase him when he went swimming and to get between his legs and nibble him. He also had babies not weaned from their mother breast suck at his chest and groin . . . "
(Suetonius. The Twelve Caesars. Trans. Robert Graves. London: Penguin Books, 1979. XLIV).
Jesus, referring to a "penny" asked, "Whose is this image and superscription?" When told it was Caesar, He said, ''Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's and unto God the things that are God's" (Matthew 22:20-21). Since Tiberius was Caesar at the time, this denarius type is attributed by scholars as the "penny" referred to in the Bible(Joseph Sermarini).
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Cleisthenes
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706a, Nero, 13 October 54 - 9 June 68 A.D.6, Nero, 13 October 54 - 9 June 68 A.D. AE setertius, Date: 66 AD; RIC I 516, 36.71 mm; 25.5 grams; aVF. Obverse: IMP NERO CAESAR AVG PONT MAX TR POT PP, Laureate bust right; Reverse: S C, ROMA, Roma seated left, exceptional portrait and full obverse legends. Ex Ancient Imports.
NERO (54-68 A.D.)
It is difficult for the modern student of history to realize just how popular Nero actually was, at least at the beginning of his reign. Rome looked upon her new Emperor with hope. He was the student of Seneca, and he had a sensitive nature. He loved art, music, literature, and theatre. He was also devoted to horses and horse racing—a devotion shared by many of his subjects. The plebs loved their new Emperor. As Professor of Classics Judith P. Hallett (University of Maryland, College Park) says, “It is not clear to me that Nero ever changed or that Nero ever grew-up, and that was both his strength and his weakness. Nero was an extraordinarily popular Emperor: he was like Elvis” (The Roman Empire in the First Century, III. Dir. Margaret Koval and Lyn Goldfarb. 2001. DVD. PBS/Warner Bros. 2003).
De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families
Herbert W. Benario
Emory University
Introduction and Sources
The five Julio-Claudian emperors are very different one from the other. Augustus dominates in prestige and achievement from the enormous impact he had upon the Roman state and his long service to Rome, during which he attained unrivaled auctoritas. Tiberius was clearly the only possible successor when Augustus died in AD 14, but, upon his death twenty-three years later, the next three were a peculiar mix of viciousness, arrogance, and inexperience. Gaius, better known as Caligula, is generally styled a monster, whose brief tenure did Rome no service. His successor Claudius, his uncle, was a capable man who served Rome well, but was condemned for being subject to his wives and freedmen. The last of the dynasty, Nero, reigned more than three times as long as Gaius, and the damage for which he was responsible to the state was correspondingly greater. An emperor who is well described by statements such as these, "But above all he was carried away by a craze for popularity and he was jealous of all who in any way stirred the feeling of the mob." and "What an artist the world is losing!" and who is above all remembered for crimes against his mother and the Christians was indeed a sad falling-off from the levels of Augustus and Tiberius. Few will argue that Nero does not rank as one of the worst emperors of all.
The prime sources for Nero's life and reign are Tacitus' Annales 12-16, Suetonius' Life of Nero, and Dio Cassius' Roman History 61-63, written in the early third century. Additional valuable material comes from inscriptions, coinage, papyri, and archaeology.
Early Life
He was born on December 15, 37, at Antium, the son of Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbusand Agrippina. Domitius was a member of an ancient noble family, consul in 32; Agrippina was the daughter of the popular Germanicus, who had died in 19, and Agrippina, daughter of Agrippa, Augustus' closest associate, and Julia, the emperor's daughter, and thus in direct descent from the first princeps. When the child was born, his uncle Gaius had only recently become emperor. The relationship between mother and uncle was difficult, and Agrippina suffered occasional humiliation. But the family survived the short reign of the "crazy" emperor, and when he was assassinated, it chanced that Agrippina's uncle, Claudius, was the chosen of the praetorian guard, although there may have been a conspiracy to accomplish this.
Ahenobarbus had died in 40, so the son was now the responsibility of Agrippina alone. She lived as a private citizen for much of the decade, until the death of Messalina, the emperor's wife, in 48 made competition among several likely candidates to become the new empress inevitable. Although Roman law forbade marriage between uncle and niece, an eloquent speech in the senate by Lucius Vitellius, Claudius' closest advisor in the senatorial order, persuaded his audience that the public good required their union. The marriage took place in 49, and soon thereafter the philosopher Seneca [[PIR2 A617]] was recalled from exile to become the young Domitius' tutor, a relationship which endured for some dozen years.
His advance was thereafter rapid. He was adopted by Claudius the following year and took the name Tiberius Claudius Nero Caesar or Nero Claudius Caesar Drusus Germanicus, was preferred to Claudius' natural son, Britannicus, who was about three years younger, was betrothed to the emperor's daughter Octavia, and was, in the eyes of the people, the clear successor to the emperor. In 54, Claudius died, having eaten some poisoned mushrooms, responsibility for which was believed to be Agrippina's, and the young Nero, not yet seventeen years old, was hailed on October 13 as emperor by the praetorian guard.
The First Years of Rule
The first five years of Nero's rule are customarily called the quinquennium, a period of good government under the influence, not always coinciding, of three people, his mother, Seneca, and Sextus Afranius Burrus, the praetorian prefect. The latter two were allies in their "education" of the emperor. Seneca continued his philosophical and rhetorical training, Burrus was more involved in advising on the actualities of government. They often combined their influence against Agrippina, who, having made her son emperor, never let him forget the debt he owed his mother, until finally, and fatally, he moved against her.
Nero's betrothal to Octavia was a significant step in his ultimate accession to the throne, as it were, but she was too quiet, too shy, too modest for his taste. He was early attracted to Poppaea Sabina, the wife of Otho, and she continually goaded him to break from Octavia and to show himself an adult by opposing his mother. In his private life, Nero honed the musical and artistic tastes which were his chief interest, but, at this stage, they were kept private, at the instigation of Seneca and Burrus.
As the year 59 began, Nero had just celebrated his twenty-first birthday and now felt the need to employ the powers which he possessed as emperor as he wished, without the limits imposed by others. Poppaea's urgings had their effect, first of all, at the very onset of the year, with Nero's murder of his mother in the Bay of Naples.
Agrippina had tried desperately to retain her influence with her son, going so far as to have intercourse with him. But the break between them proved irrevocable, and Nero undertook various devices to eliminate his mother without the appearance of guilt on his part. The choice was a splendid vessel which would collapse while she was on board. As this happened, she swam ashore and, when her attendant, having cried out that she was Agrippina, was clubbed to death, Agrippina knew what was going on. She sent Nero a message that she was well; his response was to send a detachment of sailors to finish the job. When she was struck across the head, she bared her womb and said, "Strike here, Anicetus, strike here, for this bore Nero," and she was brutally murdered.
Nero was petrified with fear when he learned that the deed had been done, yet his popularity with the plebs of Rome was not impaired. This matricide, however, proved a turning point in his life and principate. It appeared that all shackles were now removed. The influence of Seneca and Burrus began to wane, and when Burrus died in 62, Seneca realized that his powers of persuasion were at an end and soon went into retirement. Britannicus had died as early as 55; now Octavia was to follow, and Nero became free to marry Poppaea. It may be that it had been Burrus rather than Agrippina who had continually urged that Nero's position depended in large part upon his marriage to Octavia. Burrus' successor as commander of the praetorian guard, although now with a colleague, was Ofonius Tigellinus, quite the opposite of Burrus in character and outlook. Tigellinus became Nero's "evil twin," urging and assisting in the performance of crimes and the satisfaction of lusts.
Administrative and Foreign Policy
With Seneca and Burrus in charge of administration at home, the first half-dozen years of Nero's principate ran smoothly. He himself devoted his attention to his artistic, literary, and physical bents, with music, poetry, and chariot racing to the fore. But his advisors were able to keep these performances and displays private, with small, select audiences on hand. Yet there was a gradual trend toward public performance, with the establishment of games. Further, he spent many nights roaming the city in disguise, with numerous companions, who terrorized the streets and attacked individuals. Those who dared to defend themselves often faced death afterward, because they had shown disrespect for the emperor. The die was being cast for the last phases of Nero's reign.
The Great Fire at Rome and The Punishment
of the Christians
The year 64 was the most significant of Nero's principate up to this point. His mother and wife were dead, as was Burrus, and Seneca, unable to maintain his influence over Nero without his colleague's support, had withdrawn into private life. The abysmal Tigellinus was now the foremost advisor of the still young emperor, a man whose origin was from the lowest levels of society and who can accurately be described as criminal in outlook and action. Yet Nero must have considered that he was happier than he had ever been in his life. Those who had constrained his enjoyment of his (seemingly) limitless power were gone, he was married to Poppaea, a woman with all advantages save for a bad character the empire was essentially at peace, and the people of Rome enjoyed a full measure of panem et circenses. But then occurred one of the greatest disasters that the city of Rome, in its long history, had ever endured.
The fire began in the southeastern angle of the Circus Maximus, spreading through the shops which clustered there, and raged for the better part of a week. There was brief success in controlling the blaze, but then it burst forth once more, so that many people claimed that the fires were deliberately set. After about a fortnight, the fire burned itself out, having consumed ten of the fourteen Augustan regions into which the city had been divided.
Nero was in Antium through much of the disaster, but his efforts at relief were substantial. Yet many believed that he had been responsible, so that he could perform his own work comparing the current fate of Rome to the downfall of Troy. All his efforts to assist the stricken city could not remove the suspicion that "the emperor had fiddled while Rome burned." He lost favor even among the plebs who had been enthusiastic supporters, particularly when his plans for the rebuilding of the city revealed that a very large part of the center was to become his new home.
As his popularity waned, Nero and Tigellinus realized that individuals were needed who could be charged with the disaster. It so happened that there was such a group ready at hand, Christians, who had made themselves unpopular because of their refusal to worship the emperor, their way of life, and their secret meetings. Further, at this time two of their most significant "teachers" were in Rome, Peter and Paul. They were ideal scapegoats, individuals whom most Romans loathed, and who had continually sung of the forthcoming end of the world.
Their destruction was planned with the utmost precision and cruelty, for the entertainment of the populace. The venue was Nero's circus near the Mons Vaticanus. Christians were exposed to wild animals and were set ablaze, smeared with pitch, to illuminate the night. The executions were so grisly that even the populace displayed sympathy for the victims. Separately, Peter was crucified upside down on the Vatican hill and Paul was beheaded along the Via Ostiensis. But Nero's attempt, and hope, to shift all suspicion of arson to others failed. His popularity even among the lower classes was irrevocably impaired.
[For a detailed and interesting discussion of Nero’s reign please see http://www.roman-emperors.org/nero.htm]
The End - Nero's Death and its Aftermath
Nero's and Tigellinus' response to the conspiracy was immediate and long-lasting. The senatorial order was decimated, as one leading member after another was put to death or compelled to commit suicide. The year 66 saw the suicides of perhaps the most distinguished victims of the "reign of terror," Caius Petronius and Thrasea Paetus. Petronius, long a favorite of Nero because of his aesthetic taste, had been an able public servant before he turned to a life of ease and indolence. He was recognized as the arbiter elegantiae of Nero's circle, and may be the author of the Satyricon. At his death, he left for Nero a document which itemized many of the latter's crimes. Thrasea, a staunch Stoic who had been for some years an outspoken opponent of Nero's policies, committed suicide in the Socratic manner. This scene is the last episode in the surviving books of Tacitus' Annals.
In the year 68, revolt began in the provinces. . . the end of Nero's reign became inevitable. Galba claimed the throne and began his march from Spain. Nero panicked and was rapidly abandoned by his supporters. He finally committed suicide with assistance, on June 9, 68, and his body was tended and buried by three women who had been close to him in his younger days, chief of whom was Acte. His death scene is marked above all by the statement, "Qualis artifex pereo," (What an artist dies in me.) Even at the end he was more concerned with his private life than with the affairs of state.
The aftermath of Nero's death was cataclysmic. Galba was the first of four emperors who revealed the new secret of empire, that an emperor could be made elsewhere than in Rome. Civil war ensued, which was only ended by the victory of the fourth claimant, Vespasian, who established the brief dynasty of the Flavians. The dynasty of the Julio-Claudians was at an end.
Nero's popularity among the lower classes remained even after his death.
. . . .
It is not excessive to say that he was one of the worst of Rome's emperors in the first two centuries and more of the empire. Whatever talents he had, whatever good he may have done, all is overwhelmed by three events, the murder of his mother, the fire at Rome, and his savage treatment of the Christians.
Precisely these qualities are the reasons that he has remained so well known and has been the subject of many writers and opera composers in modern times. These works of fiction particularly merit mention: Henryk Sienkiewicz's Quo Vadis, one of the finest works of the 1907 Nobel Laureate in Literature, and John Hersey's The Conspiracy. Nero unquestionably will always be with us.
Copyright (C) 2006, Herbert W. Benario.
Published: De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families http://www.roman-emperors.org/startup.htm. Used by permission.
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Cleisthenes
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710a, Vespasian, 1 July 69 - 24 June 79 A.D.Silver denarius, RIC II, 10, aVF, 3.5 g, 18mm, Rome mint, 69-71 AD; Obverse: IMP CAESA[R] VESPASIANV[S AV]G - Laureate head right; Reverse: COS ITER [T]R POT - Pax seated left holding branch and caduceus. Ex Imperial Coins.
De Imperatoribus Romanis:
An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families
Titus Flavius Vespasianus (A.D. 69-79)
John Donahue
College of William and Mary
Introduction
Titus Flavius Vespasianus (b. A.D. 9, d. A.D. 79, emperor A.D. 69-79) restored peace and stability to an empire in disarray following the death of Nero in A.D. 68. In the process he established the Flavian dynasty as the legitimate successor to the Imperial throne. Although we lack many details about the events and chronology of his reign, Vespasian provided practical leadership and a return to stable government - accomplishments which, when combined with his other achievements, make his emperorship particularly notable within the history of the Principate.
Early Life and Career
Vespasian was born at Falacrina near Sabine Reate on 17 November, A.D. 9, the son of T. Flavius Sabinus, a successful tax collector and banker, and Vespasia Polla. Both parents were of equestrian status. Few details of his first fifteen years survive, yet it appears that his father and mother were often away from home on business for long periods. As a result, Vespasian's early education became the responsibility of his paternal grandmother, Tertulla. [[1]] In about A.D. 25 Vespasian assumed the toga virilis and later accepted the wearing of the latus clavus, and with it the senatorial path that his older brother, T. Flavius Sabinus, had already chosen. [[2]] Although many of the particulars are lacking, the posts typically occupied by one intent upon a senatorial career soon followed: a military tribunate in Thrace, perhaps for three or four years; a quaestorship in Crete-Cyrene; and the offices of aedile and praetor, successively, under the emperor Gaius. [[3]]
It was during this period that Vespasian married Flavia Domitilla. Daughter of a treasury clerk and former mistress of an African knight, Flavia lacked the social standing and family connections that the politically ambitious usually sought through marriage. In any case, the couple produced three children, a daughter, also named Flavia Domitilla, and two sons, the future emperors Titus and Domitian . Flavia did not live to witness her husband's emperorship and after her death Vespasian returned to his former mistress Caenis, who had been secretary to Antonia (daughter of Marc Antony and mother of Claudius). Caenis apparently exerted considerable influence over Vespasian, prompting Suetonius to assert that she remained his wife in all but name, even after he became emperor. [[4]]
Following the assassination of Gaius on 24 January, A.D. 41, Vespasian advanced rapidly, thanks in large part to the new princeps Claudius, whose favor the Flavians had wisely secured with that of Antonia, the mother of Germanicus, and of Claudius' freedmen, especially Narcissus. [[5]] The emperor soon dispatched Vespasian to Argentoratum (Strasbourg) as legatus legionis II Augustae, apparently to prepare the legion for the invasion of Britain. Vespasian first appeared at the battle of Medway in A.D. 43, and soon thereafter led his legion across the south of England, where he engaged the enemy thirty times in battle, subdued two tribes, and conquered the Isle of Wight. According to Suetonius, these operations were conducted partly under Claudius and partly under Vespasian's commander, Aulus Plautius. Vespasian's contributions, however, did not go unnoticed; he received the ornamenta triumphalia and two priesthoods from Claudius for his exploits in Britain. [[6]]
By the end of A.D. 51 Vespasian had reached the consulship, the pinnacle of a political career at Rome. For reasons that remain obscure he withdrew from political life at this point, only to return when chosen proconsul of Africa about A.D. 63-64. His subsequent administration of the province was marked by severity and parsimony, earning him a reputation for being scrupulous but unpopular. [[7]] Upon completion of his term, Vespasian returned to Rome where, as a senior senator, he became a man of influence in the emperor Nero's court. [[8]] Important enough to be included on Nero's tour of Greece in A.D. 66-67, Vespasian soon found himself in the vicinity of increasing political turbulence in the East. The situation would prove pivotal in advancing his career.
Judaea and the Accession to Power
In response to rioting in Caesarea and Jerusalem that had led to the slaughter in the latter city of Jewish leaders and Roman soldiers, Nero granted to Vespasian in A.D. 66 a special command in the East with the objective of settling the revolt in Judaea. By spring A.D. 67, with 60,000 legionaries, auxiliaries, and allies under his control, Vespasian set out to subdue Galilee and then to cut off Jerusalem. Success was quick and decisive. By October all of Galilee had been pacified and plans for the strategic encirclement of Jerusalem were soon formed. [[9]] Meanwhile, at the other end of the empire, the revolts of Gaius Iulius Vindex, governor of Gallia Lugdunensis, and Servius Sulpicius Galba , governor of Hispania Tarraconensis, had brought Nero's reign to the brink of collapse. The emperor committed suicide in June, A.D. 68, thereby ensuring chaos for the next eighteen months, as first Galba and then Marcus Salvius Otho and Aulus Vitellius acceded to power. Each lacked broad-based military and senatorial support; each would be violently deposed in turn. [[10]]
Still occupied with plans against Jerusalem, Vespasian swore allegiance to each emperor. Shortly after Vitellius assumed power in spring, A.D. 69, however, Vespasian met on the border of Judaea and Syria with Gaius Licinius Mucianus, governor of Syria, and after a series of private and public consultations, the two decided to revolt. [[11]] On July 1, at the urging of Tiberius Alexander, prefect of Egypt, the legions of Alexandria declared for Vespasian, as did the legions of Judaea two days later. By August all of Syria and the Danube legions had done likewise. Vespasian next dispatched Mucianus to Italy with 20,000 troops, while he set out from Syria to Alexandria in order to control grain shipments for the purpose of starving Italy into submission. [[12]] The siege of Jerusalem he placed in the hands of his son Titus.
Meanwhile, the Danubian legions, unwilling to wait for Mucianus' arrival, began their march against Vitellius ' forces. The latter army, suffering from a lack of discipline and training, and unaccustomed to the heat of Rome, was defeated at Cremona in late October. [[13]] By mid-December the Flavian forces had reached Carsulae, 95 kilometers north of Rome on the Flaminian Road, where the Vitellians, with no further hope of reinforcements, soon surrendered. At Rome, unable to persuade his followers to accept terms for his abdication, Vitellius was in peril. On the morning of December 20 the Flavian army entered Rome. By that afternoon, the emperor was dead. [[14]]
Tacitus records that by December 22, A.D. 69, Vespasian had been given all the honors and privileges usually granted to emperors. Even so, the issue remains unclear, owing largely to a surviving fragment of an enabling law, the lex de imperio Vespasiani, which conferred powers, privileges, and exemptions, most with Julio-Claudian precedents, on the new emperor. Whether the fragment represents a typical granting of imperial powers that has uniquely survived in Vespasian's case, or is an attempt to limit or expand such powers, remains difficult to know. In any case, the lex sanctioned all that Vespasian had done up to its passing and gave him authority to act as he saw fit on behalf of the Roman people. [[15]]
What does seem clear is that Vespasian felt the need to legitimize his new reign with vigor. He zealously publicized the number of divine omens that predicted his accession and at every opportunity he accumulated multiple consulships and imperial salutations. He also actively promoted the principle of dynastic succession, insisting that the emperorship would fall to his son. The initiative was fulfilled when Titus succeeded his father in A.D. 79.[[16]]
Emperorship
Upon his arrival in Rome in late summer, A.D. 70, Vespasian faced the daunting task of restoring a city and a government ravaged by the recent civil wars. Although many particulars are missing, a portrait nevertheles emerges of a ruler conscientiously committed to the methodical renewal of both city and empire. Concerning Rome itself, the emperor encouraged rebuilding on vacated lots, restored the Capitol (burned in A.D. 69), and also began work on several new buildings: a temple to the deified Claudius on the Caelian Hill, a project designed to identify Vespasian as a legitimate heir to the Julio-Claudians, while distancing himself from Nero ; a temple of Peace near the Forum; and the magnificent Colosseum (Flavian Amphitheatre), located on the site of the lake of Nero 's Golden House. [[17]]
Claiming that he needed forty thousand million sesterces for these projects and for others aimed at putting the state on more secure footing, Vespasian is said to have revoked various imperial immunities, manipulated the supply of certain commodities to inflate their price, and increased provincial taxation. [[18]] The measures are consistent with his characterization in the sources as both obdurate and avaricious. There were occasional political problems as well: Helvidius Priscus, an advocate of senatorial independence and a critic of the Flavian regime from the start, was exiled after A.D. 75 and later executed; Marcellus Eprius and A. Alienus Caecina were condemned by Titus for conspiracy, the former committing suicide, the latter executed in A.D. 79.
As Suetonius claims, however, in financial matters Vespasian always put revenues to the best possible advantage, regardless of their source. Tacitus, too, offers a generally favorable assessment, citing Vespasian as the first man to improve after becoming emperor. [[19]] Thus do we find the princeps offering subventions to senators not possessing the property qualifications of their rank, restoring many cities throughout the empire, and granting state salaries for the first time to teachers of Latin and Greek rhetoric. To enhance Roman economic and social life even further, he encouraged theatrical productions by building a new stage for the Theatre of Marcellus, and he also put on lavish state dinners to assist the food trades. [[20]]
In other matters the emperor displayed similar concern. He restored the depleted ranks of the senatorial and equestrian orders with eligible Italian and provincial candidates and reduced the backlog of pending court cases at Rome. Vespasian also re-established discipline in the army, while punishing or dismissing large numbers of Vitellius ' men. [[21]]
Beyond Rome, the emperor increased the number of legions in the East and continued the process of imperial expansion by the annexation of northern England, the pacification of Wales, and by advances into Scotland and southwest Germany between the Rhine and the Danube. Vespasian also conferred rights on communities abroad, especially in Spain, where the granting of Latin rights to all native communities contributed to the rapid Romanization of that province during the Imperial period. [[22]]
Death and Assessment
In contrast to his immediate imperial predecessors, Vespasian died peacefully - at Aquae Cutiliae near his birthplace in Sabine country on 23 June, A.D. 79, after contracting a brief illness. The occasion is said to have inspired his deathbed quip: "Oh my, I must be turning into a god!" [[23]] In fact, public deification did follow his death, as did his internment in the Mausoleum of Augustus alongside the Julio-Claudians.
A man of strict military discipline and simple tastes, Vespasian proved to be a conscientious and generally tolerant administrator. More importantly, following the upheavals of A.D. 68-69, his reign was welcome for its general tranquility and restoration of peace. In Vespasian Rome found a leader who made no great breaks with tradition, yet his ability ro rebuild the empire and especially his willingness to expand the composition of the governing class helped to establish a positive working model for the "good emperors" of the second century.
Bibliography
Since the scholarship on Vespasian is more comprehensive than can be treated here, the works listed below are main accounts or bear directly upon issues discussed in the entry above. A comprehensive modern anglophone study of this emperor is yet to be produced.
Atti congresso internazionale di studi Flaviani, 2 vols. Rieti, 1983.
Atti congresso internazionale di studi Vespasianei, 2 vols. Rieti, 1981.
Bosworth, A.B. "Vespasian and the Provinces: Some Problems of the Early 70s A.D." Athenaeum 51 (1973): 49-78.
Brunt, P. A. "Lex de imperio Vespasiani." JRS (67) 1977: 95-116.
D'Espèrey, S. Franchet. "Vespasien, Titus et la littérature." ANRW II.32.5: 3048-3086.
Dudley, D. and Webster, G. The Roman Conquest of Britain. London, 1965.
Gonzalez, J. "The Lex Irnitana: A New Copy of the Flavian Municipal Law." JRS 76 (1986): 147-243.
Grant, M. The Roman Emperors: A Biographical Guide to the Rulers of Rome, 31 B.C. - A.D. 476. New York, 1985.
Homo, L. Vespasien, l'Empereur du bons sens (69-79 ap. J.-C.). Paris, 1949.
Levi, M.A. "I Flavi." ANRW II.2: 177-207.
McCrum, M. and Woodhead, A. G. Select Documents of the Principates of the Flavian Emperors Including the Year of the Revolution. Cambridge, 1966.
Nicols, John. Vespasian and the Partes Flavianae. Wiesbaden, 1978.
Scarre, C. Chronicle of the Roman Emperors. The Reign-by-Reign Record of the Rulers of Imperial Rome. London, 1995.
Suddington, D. B. The Development of the Roman Auxiliary Forces from Caesar to Vespasian, 49 B.C. - A.D. 79. Harare: U. of Zimbabwe, 1982.
Syme, R. Tacitus. Oxford, 1958.
Wardel, David. "Vespasian, Helvidius Priscus and the Restoration of the Capitol." Historia 45 (1996): 208-222.
Wellesley, K. The Long Year: A.D. 69. Bristol, 1989, 2nd ed.
Notes
[[1]] Suet. Vesp. 2.1. Suetonius remains the major source but see also Tac. Hist. 2-5; Cass. Dio 65; Joseph. BJ 3-4.
[[2]] Suetonius (Vesp. 2.1) claims that Vespasian did not accept the latus clavus, the broad striped toga worn by one aspiring to a senatorial career, immediately. The delay, however, was perhaps no more than three years. See J. Nicols, Vespasian and the Partes Flavianae (Wiesbaden, 1978), 2.
[[3]] Military tribunate and quaestorship: Suet. Vesp. 2.3; aedileship: ibid., 5.3, in which Gaius, furious that Vespasian had not kept the streets clean, as was his duty, ordered some soldiers to load him with filth;,they complied by stuffing his toga with as much as it could hold. See also Dio 59.12.2-3; praetorship: Suet. Vesp. 2.3, in which Vespasian is depicted as one of Gaius' leading adulators, an account consistent with Tacitus' portrayal (Hist 1.50.4; 2.5.1) of his early career. For a more complete discussion of these posts and attendant problems of dating, see Nicols, Vespasian, 2-7.
[[4]] Marriage and Caenis: Suet. Vesp. 3; Cass. Dio 65.14.
[[5]] Nicols, Vespasian, 12-39.
[[6]] Suet. Vesp. 4.1 For additional details on Vespasian's exploits in Britain, see D. Dudley and G. Webster, The Roman Conquest of Britain (London, 1965), 55 ff., 98.
[[7]] Concerning Vespasian's years between his consulship and proconsulship, see Suet. Vesp. 4.2 and Nicols, Vespasian, 9. On his unpopularity in Africa, see Suet. Vesp. 4.3, an account of a riot at Hadrumentum, where he was once pelted with turnips. In recording that Africa supported Vitellius in A.D. 69, Tacitus too suggests popular dissatisfaction with Vespasian's proconsulship. See Hist. 2.97.2.
[[8]] This despite the fact that the sources record two rebukes of Vespasian, one for extorting money from a young man seeking career advancement (Suet. Vesp. 4.3), the other for either leaving the room or dozing off during one of the emperor's recitals (Suet. Vesp. 4.4 and 14, which places the transgression in Greece; Tac. (Ann. 16.5.3), who makes Rome and the Quinquennial Games of A.D. 65 the setting; A. Braithwaite, C. Suetoni Tranquilli Divus Vespasianus, Oxford, 1927, 30, who argues for both Greece and Rome).
[[9]] Subjugation of Galilee: Joseph. BJ 3.65-4.106; siege of Jerusalem: ibid., 4.366-376, 414.
[[10]] Revolt of Vindex: Suet. Nero 40; Tac. Ann. 14.4; revolt of Galba: Suet. Galba 10; Plut. Galba, 4-5; suicide of Nero: Suet. Nero 49; Cass. Dio 63.29.2. For the most complete account of the period between Nero's death and the accession of Vespasian, see K. Wellesley, The Long Year: A.D. 69, 2nd. ed. (Bristol, 1989).
[[11]] Tac. Hist. 2.76.
[[12]] Troops in support of Vespasian: Suet. Vit. 15; Mucianus and his forces: Tac. Hist. 2.83; Vespasian and grain shipments: Joseph. BJ 4.605 ff.; see also Tac. Hist. 3.48, on Vespasian's possible plan to shut off grain shipments to Italy from Carthage as well.
[[13]] On Vitellius' army and its lack of discipline, see Tac. Hist. 2.93-94; illness of army: ibid., 2.99.1; Cremona: ibid., 3.32-33.
[[14]] On Vitellius' last days, see Tac. Hist. 3.68-81. On the complicated issue of Vitellius' death date, see L. Holzapfel, "Römische Kaiserdaten," Klio 13 (1913): 301.
[[15]] Honors, etc. Tac. Hist. 4.3. For more on the lex de imperio Vespasiani, see P. A. Brunt, "Lex de imperio Vespasiani," JRS (67) 1977: 95-116.
[[16]] Omens: Suet. Vesp. 5; consulships and honors: ibid., 8; succession of sons: ibid., 25.
[[17]] On Vespasian's restoration of Rome, see Suet. Vesp. 9; Cass. Dio 65.10; D. Wardel, "Vespasian, Helvidius Priscus and the Restoration of the Capitol," Historia 45 (1996): 208-222.
[[18]] Suet. Vesp. 16.
[[19]] Ibid.; Tac. Hist. 1.50.
[[20]] Suet. Vesp. 17-19.
[[21]] Ibid., 8-10.
[[22]] On Vespasian's exploits in Britain, see esp. Tac., Agricola, eds. R. M. Ogilvie and I. A. Richmond (1967), and W. S. Hanson, Agricola and the Conquest of the North (1987); on the granting of Latin rights in Spain, see, e.g., J. Gonzalez, "The Lex Irnitana: a New Copy of the Flavian Municipal Law." JRS 76 (1986): 147-243.
[[23]] For this witticism and other anecdotes concerning Vespasian's sense of humor, see Suet. Vesp. 23.
Copyright (C) 1998, John Donahue. Published on De Imperatoribus Romanis, an Online Encyplopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families.
http://www.roman-emperors.org/vespasia.htm
Used by permission.
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.
Cleisthenes
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Australia, Tasmania, New Town: Reuben JosephsAndrews 310, Renniks 310, KM Tn140
½ penny token , copper; dated 1855 and minted by Heaton and Sons of Birmingham, England per Renniks or W.J. Taylor of London, England per Museums Victoria Collection website (which states that the corresponding penny token was minted by Heaton and Sons). 28.0 mm., 0°
Obv.: Tollgate with associated building, NEW TOWN TOLLGATE / * R. JOSEPHS *,
Rev.: Blindfolded personification of Justice seated holding scale in right hand and inverted overflowing cornucopia in left hand, wine barrel behind her, three-masted sailing ship on the horizon to the left, VAN DIEMAN’S LAND above and 1855 below
Reuben Josephs (1790-1862) was a tailor who sold old clothes from a warehouse in London until 1827, when he was convicted of receiving stolen goods, sentenced to fourteen years transportation and sent to Van Diemen’s Land (later renamed Tasmania). His wife emigrated to Tasmania and purchased two blocks of land at New Norfolk. Reuben was assigned to be her servant, and they started a business. He was granted a ticket of leave in 1833, a conditional pardon in 1836, and his certificate of freedom in 1841. After his wife died in 1844, he moved to Liverpool Street in Hobart. In 1852 he won the tender to operate the New Town toll gate for three years. He married Rachel Levien in Hobart in 1856.
In documents of the Hobart Hebrew Congregation, Reuben Josephs was listed as a contributor to the fund for the construction of the Hobart Synagogue, and as a “seatholder” (financial member) of the Congregation starting in 1852. He was buried in the Jewish section of the Old Hobart Cemetery.
Renniks rarity R1 (most frequently seen)Stkp
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Australia, Tasmania: Lewis AbrahamsAndrews 2, Renniks 2, Grey 2, KM Tn6
½ penny token , copper; dated 1855 and minted by Heaton and Sons of Birmingham, England. 27.5 mm., 0°
Obv.: LEWIS ABRAHAMS / DRAPER / LIVERPOOL STREET / HOBART TOWN
Rev.: Emu facing right and kangaroo facing left, TASMANIA above and 1855 BELOW
Although there is no listing in the Archives Office of Tasmania Pioneer's Database for a Lewis Abrahams, records show that he occupied a house and garden at 19 Bathurst Street in Hobart Town in 1835, and was then in partnership with a certain H.C. Davis in a shop at 102 Liverpool Street. This token indicates that in 1855 he was operating without Davis as a draper on Liverpool Street. It appears that Davis withdrew from the partnership and Abrahams carried on alone.
Abrahams is listed as a contributor to the fund for the construction of the Hobart Synagogue in 1844-1845, and as a “seatholder” (financial member) of the Hobart Hebrew Congregation for some time during the period 1852-1877. He was married in the Hobart Synagogue in December 1855. He died in Hobart in 1860.
Renniks rarity R1 (most frequently seen)Stkp
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Australia, Tasmania: Lewis AbrahamsAndrews 1, Renniks 1, KM Tn7
Penny token , copper; dated 1855 and minted by Heaton and Sons of Birmingham, England. 34.0 mm., 0°
Obv.: LEWIS ABRAHAMS / DRAPER / LIVERPOOL STREET / HOBART TOWN
Rev.: Emu facing right and kangaroo facing left, TASMANIA above and 1855 BELOW
Although there is no listing in the Archives Office of Tasmania Pioneer's Database for a Lewis Abrahams, records show that he occupied a house and garden at 19 Bathurst Street in Hobart Town in 1835, and was then in partnership with a certain H.C. Davis in a shop at 102 Liverpool Street. This token indicates that in 1855 he was operating without Davis as a draper on Liverpool Street. It appears that Davis withdrew from the partnership and Abrahams carried on alone.
Abrahams is listed as a contributor to the fund for the construction of the Hobart Synagogue in 1844-1845, and as a “seatholder” (financial member) of the Hobart Hebrew Congregation for some time during the period 1852-1877. He was married in the Hobart Synagogue in December 1855. He died in Hobart in 1860.
Renniks rarity R1 (most frequently seen)Stkp
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B & S. Steinhouse/Nachlass Zkainim Home For the Aged (Montreal, Quebec, Canada)AE token, 34 mm., 15.78 gr., undated (but probably minted ca. 1927).
Obv: B & S.S & N.Z. HOME FOR THE AGED, and • MONTREAL •, within border around rim, 25¢ to left and right of building in center, SOUVENIR below building.
Rev: KEEP ME and GOOD LUCK within border in upper and lower rim, “תשליכנו / לצת זקנה אל„ [Do not cast us off in our old age. (Psalm 71:9)] and DO NOT CAST US / OFF AT OUR OLD AGE, in center, between profiles of elderly man and woman facing left and right, respectively.
Ref: Randolph, Marc A. “Jewish Homes for the Aged Tokens,” The Shekel, XXXVI No. 3 (May-June 2003) 14-19, Figure 2.
Note: The B & S. Steinhouse Old People’s Home opened in Montreal in 1923 and soon merged with the Nachlass Zkainim Home. In 1927, encouraged by the newly formed Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of Montreal, the combined B & S. Steinhouse/Nachlass Zkainim Home For the Aged amalgamated with the Montreal Hebrew Sheltering Home, a/k/a Moshav Zkainim (which was founded in 1910, and then housed six residents on Evans Street). The institution raised funds for the construction of a larger building on land owned by the Montreal Sheltering Home on Esplanade Street. By 1945, the average age of new residents was over eighty, and increased medical and nursing staff were required. The institution changed its name to Maimonides Hospital and Home for the Aged to reflect this expanded role. The institution still exists, as the Maimonides Geriatric Center of McGill University.
Note: The token was issued sometime between 1923 (when B & S. Steinhouse Old People’s Home opened) and 1945 (when the amalgamated institution changed its name to Maimonides Hospital and Home for the Aged), and probably no later than 1927 (when the combined B & S. Steinhouse/Nachlass Zkainim Home For the Aged) amalgamated with the Montreal Hebrew Sheltering Home, a/k/a Moshav Zkainim). It may even have been issued in connection with the fund drive that was initiated in 1927 to build the larger building on Esplanade Street.Stkp
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Bristol Wine street Church Tower 1793Hawkins Bird's Bristol (Somerset) copper Conder halfpenny token 1793. Obverse: View of a church tower with legend: "ONE HALFPENNY HAWKINS BIRD. WINE STREET NO. 2 BRISTOL". Reverse: View of the old East India House, London and legand: "PAYABLE AT THE INDIA TEA WAREHOUSE 1793". Diagonally milled edge. Hawkins Bird was a grocer and tea dealer with a business in Bristol. The spire is that of Christ Church situated on Wine Street.
D&H Somerset No: 89. Diameter 28.2mm. VF+. Ancient Aussie
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Brooklyn Hebrew Home & Hospital for the Aged (Brooklyn, New York)White metal token, 27 mm., undated.
Obv: BROOKLY HEBREW HOME & HOSPITAL/FOR THE AGED, above Jewish star above, above ברוקלינ ??ש לזקבים (Brooklyn _____ for the Elderly) above row of buildings, above HOWARD & DUMONT/AVENUES/BROOKLYN, N.Y.
Rev: FIFTY CENTS WILL BUY along rim above, ONE/MEAL/FOR in center above wheat ears, AN AGED COUPLE, along rim below, AM.EMB. CO UTICA NY in tiny letters along rim at bottom.
Ref: None known.
Note: Incorporated in 1907 as Brooklyn Ladies’ Home for the Aged, its name changed to Brooklyn Hebrew Home for the Aged in 1913 and to Brooklyn Hebrew Home and Hospital for the Aged in 1918. By then it was already located at 813 Howard Avenue, at the intersection of Howard and Dumont Avenues, in the Brownsville section of Brooklyn. It relocated in 1953 to the former Half Moon Hotel at West 29th Street and the Boardwalk, in the Coney Island section of Brooklyn. In 1968 it changed its name to Metropolitan Jewish Geriatric Center, and currently operates as Metropolitan Jewish Health System Foundation.
Note: Manufactured by the American Emblem Co., Utica, New York.Stkp
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Chemnitz Street Car Fare TokenCity: Chemnitz
State: Saxony
Denomination: Fare token with a zinc polygon flan.
Obverse: Strassenbahnen (trolly or tram) DER STADT Chemnitz.
Reverse: Image of an electrified trolly car.
Date: Weimar period
Grade: VF
Catalog #:
Matt Inglima
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Civil War Cannon BallWeight: Approx. 3 lbs.
Excavated from the Perryville, Kentucky Battlefield - Fought Oct. 8th, 1862.
Confederate Gen. Braxton Bragg's autumn 1862 invasion of Kentucky had reached the outskirts of Louisville and Cincinnati, but he was forced to retreat and regroup. On October 7, the Federal army of Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell, numbering nearly 55,000, converged on the small crossroads town of Perryville, Kentucky, in three columns.
Union forces first skirmished with Rebel cavalry on the Springfield Pike before the fighting became more general, on Peters Hill, as the grayclad infantry arrived. The next day, at dawn, fighting began again around Peters Hill as a Union division advanced up the pike, halting just before the Confederate line. The fighting then stopped for a time. After noon, a Confederate division struck the Union left flank and forced it to fall back.
When more Confederate divisions joined the fray, the Union line made a stubborn stand, counter attacked, but finally fell back with some troops routed. Buell did not know of the happenings on the field, or he would have sent forward some reserves. Even so, the Union troops on the left flank, reinforced by two brigades, stabilized their line, and the Rebel attack sputtered to a halt.
Later, a Rebel brigade assaulted the Union division on the Springfield Pike but was repulsed and fell back into Perryville. The Yankees pursued, and skirmishing occurred in the streets in the evening before dark. Union reinforcements were threatening the Rebel left flank by now. Bragg, short of men and supplies, withdrew during the night, and, after pausing at Harrodsburg, continued the Confederate retrograde by way of Cumberland Gap into East Tennessee. The Confederate offensive was over, and the Union controlled Kentucky.
Result(s): Union strategic victory
Location: Boyle County
Campaign: Confederate Heartland Offensive (1862)
Date(s): October 8, 1862
Principal Commanders: Maj. Gen. Don Carlos Buell [US]; Gen. Braxton Bragg [CS]
Forces Engaged: Army of the Ohio [US]; Army of the Mississippi [CS]
Estimated Casualties: 7,407 total (US 4,211; CS 3,196)Noah
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Conder Token: Somersetshire 103Obv: Two men talking, man on right says, “I WANT TO BUY SOME CHEAP BARGAINS.” The man on left replies, “THEN GO TO NIBLOCK’S IN BRIDGE STREET.”
Rev: BRISTOL TOKEN 1795, view of a bridge with a man in a row boat beneath.
Edge: Plain
Half Penny Conder Token
Dalton & Hamer: Somersetshire, Niblock's 103Matt Inglima
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Constantine 4.04.009Constantine
Obv CONSTANTINVS NOBILI C
(R. laur. dr. cuir)
Rev GENIO POPVLI ROMANI
(Genius stg l. holding patera and cornucopiae)
No mint mark
Londinium
RIC VI 66 LMCC 4.04.009 (R)
10.0g 28.5 mm x 28.7 mm
(ex Rob Jones)
(From the Rauceby Hoard, number BM 102. The hoard was discovered in July 2017. Its location was in Lincolnshire, near the roman town of Causennis (present day Ancaster), and close to Ermine Street. The hoard consisted of 3099 coins, of which 875 were minted in Londinium. The earliest coins in the hoard were minted around AD 294 and the latest about AD 308. BM ref.: 2017 T649 PAS Ref.: LIN-F6D516 BM Cat. Ref. #102)Noviomagus
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Constantine I, RIC VII, Trier 305Constantine I, the Great, AD 307-377
AE - Follis (AE 3), 3.17g, 19.45mm, 180°
Trier, 1st officina, AD 321
obv. CONSTAN - TINVS AVG
Bust, with consulare mantle (trabea) and eagle-tipped sceptre in r. hand, laureate, r.
rev. BEATA TRAN - QVILLITAS
Great altar inscribed with VO / TIS / XX in three lines, above globe and three stars. Globe decorated with four vertical lines and a horizontal ladder-like band.
ex. PTR
RIC VII, Trier 305
about EF
From the Langtoft hoard, buried c. AD 325 near a street running through Langtoft/Yorkshire, discovered 24. Sept 2000, containing 924 coins, mostly reduced folles from the Constantinian family. Jochen
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Constantinople CONSSConstantine had altogether more ambitious plans. Having restored the unity of the empire, now overseeing the progress of major governmental reforms and sponsoring the consolidation of the Christian church, Constantine was well aware that Rome had become an unsatisfactory capital for several reasons. Located in central Italy, Rome lay too far from the eastern imperial frontiers, and hence also from the legions and the Imperial courts. Moreover, Rome offered an undesirable playground for disaffected politicians; it also suffered regularly from flooding and from malaria.
It seemed impossible to many that the capital could be moved. Nevertheless, Constantine identified the site of Byzantium as the correct place: a city where an emperor could sit, readily defended, with easy access to the Danube or the Euphrates frontiers, his court supplied from the rich gardens and sophisticated workshops of Roman Asia, his treasuries filled by the wealthiest provinces of the empire.
Constantine laid out the expanded city, dividing it into 14 regions, and ornamenting it with great public works worthy of a great imperial city. Yet initially Constantinople did not have all the dignities of Rome, possessing a proconsul, rather than a prefect of the city. Furthermore, it had no praetors, tribunes or quaestors. Although Constantinople did have senators, they held the title clarus, not clarissimus, like those of Rome. Constantinople also lacked the panoply of other administrative offices regulating the food supply, police, statues, temples, sewers, aqueducts or other public works. The new program of building was carried out in great haste: columns, marbles, doors and tiles were taken wholesale from the temples of the empire and moved to the new city. Similarly, many of the greatest works of Greek and Roman art were soon to be seen in its squares and streets. The emperor stimulated private building by promising householders gifts of land from the imperial estates in Asiana and Pontica, and on 18 May 332 he announced that, as in Rome, free distributions of food would be made to citizens. At the time the amount is said to have been 80,000 rations a day, doled out from 117 distribution points around the city.
Constantinople was a Greek Orthodox Christian city, lying in the most Christianised part of the Empire. Justinian ordered the pagan temples of Byzantium to be deconstructed, and erected the splendid Church of the Holy Wisdom, Sancta Sophia (also known as Hagia Sophia in Greek), as the centrepiece of his Christian capital. He oversaw also the building of the Church of the Holy Apostles, and that of Hagia Irene.
Constantine laid out anew the square at the middle of old Byzantium, naming it the Augusteum. Sancta Sophia lay on the north side of the Augusteum. The new senate-house (or Curia) was housed in a basilica on the east side. On the south side of the great square was erected the Great Palace of the emperor with its imposing entrance, the Chalke, and its ceremonial suite known as the Palace of Daphne. Located immediately nearby was the vast Hippodrome for chariot-races, seating over 80,000 spectators, and the Baths of Zeuxippus (both originally built in the time of Septimius Severus). At the entrance at the western end of the Augusteum was the Milion, a vaulted monument from which distances were measured across the Eastern Empire.
From the Augusteum a great street, the Mese, led, lined with colonnades. As it descended the First Hill of the city and climbed the Second Hill, it passed on the left the Praetorium or law-court. Then it passed through the oval Forum of Constantine where there was a second senate-house, then on and through the Forum of Taurus and then the Forum of Bous, and finally up the Sixth Hill and through to the Golden Gate on the Propontis. The Mese would be seven Roman miles long to the Golden Gate of the Walls of Theodosius.
Constantine erected a high column in the middle of the Forum, on the Second Hill, with a statue of himself at the top, crowned with a halo of seven rays and looking towards the rising sun.
RIC VII Constantinople 61 C1
ecoli
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COVENTRY HALF-PENNYCOVENTRY HALF-PENNY - CU 1797 Coventry half-penny. Obv.: Lady Godiva rides horse left. Above: PRO BONO PUBLICO - Date in exurge. Reverse: Elephant with tower on back walks right. COVENTRY HALF-PENNY. Reference: Conder #68.
From the Birmingham Museum: In the late 18th century the Royal Mint did not make enough low value coins to satisfy the growing demand for small change. As a result, many towns and cities started producing their own token money. This halfpenny token was issued at Coventry in Warwickshire. It depicts the famous story of Lady Godiva, who supposedly rode naked through the streets to win a reduction in the city’s taxes from her husband, Earl Leofric. The reverse shows that the die cutter had clearly never seen a real elephant!
dpaul7
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Diocletian 5.02.005Diocletian
Obv DN DIOCLETIANO PFS AVG
(R. laur in imperial mantle, holding an olive branch in right hand, mappa in left)
Rev QVIES AVGG
(Quies holding branch downwards, leaning on sceptre)
No mint mark
London
RIC VI 81 (S) LMCC 5.02.005 (R)
6.16g 25.1 mm x 26.0 mm
(ex Rob Jones)
(From the Rauceby Hoard, this coin ref BM#120. The hoard was discovered in July 2017. Its location was in Lincolnshire, near the roman town of Causennis (present day Ancaster), and close to Ermine Street. The hoard consisted of 3099 coins, of which 875 were minted in Londinium. The earliest coins in the hoard were minted around AD 294 and the latest about AD 308.)Noviomagus
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Egypt, BabylonThis elegant red and white banded brickwork is about all that remains on the surface to mark the Roman fortress of ‘Babylon in Egypt’. The Roman structure was started during the reign of Trajan on the site of an earlier Egyptian stronghold which marked the border between Lower and Middle Egypt. The fortress remained an important strategic outpost down through Byzantine times. In the fifth century the Legio XIII Gemina was stationed here. During the Arab conquest of Egypt in 640/1, Babylon endured a seven month siege before its capture.
These days most of the extensive Babylon complex lies buried under the streets of the Christian quarter of Old Cairo. The nearby medieval Coptic Orthodox Church of the Virgin Mary is popularly known as the ‘Hanging Church’ because its nave was built suspended over two towers of the Roman fort.
Abu Galyon
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Elagabalus, 16 May 218 - 11 March 222 A.D. Silver denariusPossibly unique! The combination of this reverse legend with a recumbent bull behind the altar is apparently unpublished and this is the only example known to Forum. The bull is present on a similar type with the reverse legend INVICTVS SACERDOS AVG.
Silver denarius, RSC III 213c var. (no bull); BMCRE V 269 var. (same); Hunter III 68 var. (same); RIC IV 52 (S) var. (same, also no horn); SRCV II 7538 var. (same), NGC XF, strike 5/5, surface 3/5 (2412840-011), Rome mint, weight 3.07g, maximum diameter 18.4mm, die axis 0o, Jan 222 A.D.; obverse IMP ANTONINVS PIVS AVG, horned, laureate, draped and bearded bust right, from the front; reverse P M TR P V COS IIII P P, Elagabalus standing slightly left, wearing Syrian priestly dress, sacrificing from patera in right hand over flaming altar at feet on left, club (or branch) cradled in left hand and arm, star in upper left field, recumbent bull behind altar; NGC certified (slabbed); extremely rare.
Coins with a horned portrait and the title TR P V were struck in January 222 A.D. After some days or weeks the horn was removed from Elagabalus' portrait. Elagabalus had shocked the public with bizarre behavior including cross dressing and marrying a vestal virgin. Removing the unusual horn from his portrait was probably part of a last ditch effort to show that he had changed, dropping his peculiar Syrian ways. The effort failed. On 11 March 222, Elagabalus and his mother were murdered, dragged through the streets of Rome and dumped into the Tiber.
From The Sam Mansourati Collection.Sam
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Forfar castle Scotland 1794Steele's Forfar (Angusshire) copper Conder halfpenny token 1797. The only halfpenny token issued for Forfar. Obverse: Three turreted castle flying large flag with legend: "PAYABLE ON DE=MAND BY JOHN STEELE", "WRIGHT DES". Reverse: Distant view of Forfar from the river with legend: "HALFPENNY FORFAR 1797". Edge, "+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.+.". John Steele was a linen and woollen draper with a business in the High Street, Forfar.
D&H Angusshire No: 24. Diameter 28.5mm. F+. Ancient Aussie
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Greece, Delos - Maritime Quarter Streetscape
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Greece, Epirus, Kassope Street in Kassope and view to the southGreece, Epirus, Kassope Street in Kassope and view to the south
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kassope_2016-05-09_13.06.21.jpg
9 May 2016 Rjdeadly
Kassope or Cassope was an ancient Greek city in Epirus. Kassope occupies a magnificent and remote site on a high platform overlooking the sea, the Ambracian Gulf and the fertile lands to the south, and with the slopes of the Zalongo mountain to the north. It is considered one of the best remaining examples of a city built on a rectilinear street grid of a Hippodamian plan in Greece. The first settlements on the site are from the Paleolithic. However the city of Kassope was founded in the middle of the 4th century B.C. as the capital of the Kassopaeans, a sub-tribe of the Thesprotians. It belonged to the Aetolian League. Cassope or Cassopia is mentioned in the war carried on by Cassander against Alcetas II of Epirus, in 312 B.C. The city flourished in the 3rd century BC, when large public buildings were built. Kassope also minted its own coins. It was destroyed by Roman forces in 168-167 B.C. Kassope was abandoned in 31 B.C. when the remaining inhabitants resettled to Nikopolis the region’s new capital. The visible remains include the Cyclopean walls, an agora, a theater, the prytaneion. Joe Sermarini
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Hadrian Denarius, 134-8, from the Ropsley (Lincolnshire) Hoard 2018, buried 150-2Hadrian (11 Aug 117 - 10 Jul 138 CE), Silver Denarius, Ropsley Hoard 21, RIC II 234d, RSC II 615, BMCRE III 608, Strack II 231, Hunter II -, SRCV I -, gEF, excellent portrait, well-centred and sharply struck on a tight flan, lightly toned, little wear, some hoard encrustations both sides, edge cracks, plain edge, weight 3.27g, composition Ag, diameter 18.0mm, thickness 2.62mm, die axis 210°, Rome mint, 134-8 CE; obverse HADRIANVS-AVG COS III P P, laureate head right; reverse FELICI-T-AS AVG (Happiness of the Emperor), Felicitas, draped, standing half-left, caduceus in right hand, olive branch in left; from the Roger Belmar Collection; ex Silbury Coins (15 Aug 2022); £350.00.
Sometime, during 150-2 CE in the North Eastern corner of the Roman province of Britannia, a citizen was compelled to bury his pot of 522 denarii, equivalent in value to around £12,500 ($15,684.99) in modern-day currency. A substantial amount given that a Roman soldier would have been paid around 300 denarii per year. The coins were reportedly found in a possible crude cist inside a Roman greyware vessel (complete but broken, with interior staining from coins).
The Ropsley (Lincolnshire) Hoard 2018 (LANCUM-F93E5B) comprised denarii, from Mark Antony (32 BCE) to Faustina II (152 CE), but many were of Hadrian (117-38 CE). The silver hoard was found in Lincolnshire on 16th March 2018 by a metal detectorist, not far from the Roman town of Ancaster (Causennis) and Ermine Street, the Roman road connecting London to Lindum Colonia (Lincoln) and Eboracum (York).
What compelled the citizen to bury the hoard we can only imagine; was it for safekeeping while he headed to market in nearby Ancaster (Causennis), just a short trip up Ermine Street or had he been asked to head north and help with the trouble caused by the Caledonians near Hadrian’s Wall? Perhaps they were stolen by a mischievous slave who was then caught, sold and could never return to recover his loot. Who knows for certain, but these coins were not recovered, at least not in Roman times. Intriguingly, burnt charcoal fragments were also recovered by British Museum conservators and scientifically identified as willow.Serendipity
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Hebrew Kindergarten & Infants Home (New York , N.Y. & Far Rockaway, Queens County, N.Y.)AE token, 32.5 mm., undated.
Obv: HEBREW KINDERGARTEN & INFANTS HOME and 35 & 37 MONTGOMERY ST. N.Y.C./CENTRAL & PLAINVIEW AVES. FAR ROCKAWAY, along toothed rim, bust of boy facing within laureate wreath in center.
Rev: HAVE A HEART/HELP THE/ORPHANS/ -- AND --/GOD WILL/HELP YOU, within laureate wreath, GOOD LUCK COIN along toothed rim, beneath.
Ref: Kaplan, Steven H.. “Great Appeal, Kindergarten Tokens Asked for Support,” The Shekel, XLIV No. 1 (January-February 2011) 49-53, Figure 3 (this token).
Note: The Hebrew Kindergarten and Day Nursery Association was established in 1905 at 29 Montgomery Street as a nursery for the care of children of working mothers. It purchased 35 and 37 Montgomery Street in 1913 for the construction of a three-story building, which was dedicated in May 1914. In November 1918, it opened a ward for children whose mothers had influenza, and also began to care for children whose mothers had died during the epidemic. By then, there had already been a fund drive in August 1918 to raise $50,000 for an orphanage at Far Rockaway, and another fund drive, to raise $100,000 for the completion of its new building. It was then known as the Hebrew Kindergarten, Day and Night Nursery. It formally changed its name to Hebrew Kindergarten & Infants Home, Inc. in August 1925, although it was apparently using that name as early as 1923. Its infant home in Far Rockaway was at the intersection of Plainview Avenue and Central Avenue/Beach 20th Street, and an address of both 310 Central Avenue and 310 Beach 20th Street. It still operates an early childhood program/day care program for ages pre-kindergarten through kindergarten on a nonsectarian basis at that location.
Note: Three different fundraising tokens were issued, all of which contain the address of the day school on Montgomery Street as well as the addresses of the orphanage on Plainview Avenue and Central Avenue, in Far Rockaway. The most common of the three tokens was apparently issued in connection with the August 1923 fund drive for the completion of that building, and this token was apparently issued at a later date in connection with a lesser fund drive.Stkp
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Hebrew Kindergarten & Infants Home (New York , N.Y. & Far Rockaway, Queens County, N.Y.)AE token, 32.5 mm., undated.
Obv: HEBREW KINDERGARTEN & INFANTS HOME and 35 & 37 MONTGOMERY ST. N.Y.C./CENTRAL & PLAINVIEW AVES. FAR ROCKAWAY, along toothed rim, bust of boy facing within laureate wreath in center.
Rev: HAVE A HEART/HELP THE/ORPHANS/ -- AND --/GOD WILL/HELP YOU, within laureate wreath, GOOD LUCK COIN along toothed rim, beneath.
Ref: Kaplan, Steven H.. “Great Appeal, Kindergarten Tokens Asked for Support,” The Shekel, XLIV No. 1 (January-February 2011) 49-53, Figure 2 (this token).
Note: The Hebrew Kindergarten and Day Nursery Association was established in 1905 at 29 Montgomery Street as a nursery for the care of children of working mothers. It purchased 35 and 37 Montgomery Street in 1913 for the construction of a three-story building, which was dedicated in May 1914. In November 1918, it opened a ward for children whose mothers had influenza, and also began to care for children whose mothers had died during the epidemic. By then, there had already been a fund drive in August 1918 to raise $50,000 for an orphanage at Far Rockaway, and another fund drive, to raise $100,000 for the completion of its new building. It was then known as the Hebrew Kindergarten, Day and Night Nursery. It formally changed its name to Hebrew Kindergarten & Infants Home, Inc. in August 1925, although it was apparently using that name as early as 1923. Its infant home in Far Rockaway was at the intersection of Plainview Avenue and Central Avenue/Beach 20th Street, and an address of both 310 Central Avenue and 310 Beach 20th Street. It still operates an early childhood program/day care program for ages pre-kindergarten through kindergarten on a nonsectarian basis at that location.
Note: Three different fundraising tokens were issued, all of which contain the address of the day school on Montgomery Street as well as the addresses of the orphanage on Plainview Avenue and Central Avenue, in Far Rockaway. The most common of the three tokens was apparently issued in connection with the August 1923 fund drive for the completion of that building, and this token was apparently issued at a later date in connection with a lesser fund drive.Stkp
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Hebrew Kindergarten & Infants Home (New York , N.Y. & Far Rockaway, Queens County, N.Y.)AE token, 32.5 mm., undated (probably ca. 1923).
Obv: HEBREW KINDERGARTEN & INFANTS HOME and 35 & 37 MONTGOMERY ST. N.Y.C./CENTRAL & PLAINVIEW AVES. FAR ROCKAWAY, along toothed rim, girl standing with outstretched arms within solid laureate wreath in center.
Rev: HAVE A HEART/HELP THE/ORPHANS/ -- AND --/GOD WILL/HELP YOU, within solid laureate wreath, GOOD LUCK COIN along toothed rim, beneath.
Ref: Kaplan, Steven H.. “Great Appeal, Kindergarten Tokens Asked for Support,” The Shekel, XLIV No. 1 (January-February 2011) 49-53, Figure 1 (this token); Meshorer, Coins Reveal 144.
Note: The Hebrew Kindergarten and Day Nursery Association was established in 1905 at 29 Montgomery Street as a nursery for the care of children of working mothers. It purchased 35 and 37 Montgomery Street in 1913 for the construction of a three-story building, which was dedicated in May 1914. In November 1918, it opened a ward for children whose mothers had influenza, and also began to care for children whose mothers had died during the epidemic. By then, there had already been a fund drive in August 1918 to raise $50,000 for an orphanage at Far Rockaway, and another fund drive, to raise $100,000 for the completion of its new building. It was then known as the Hebrew Kindergarten, Day and Night Nursery. It formally changed its name to Hebrew Kindergarten & Infants Home, Inc. in August 1925, although it was apparently using that name as early as 1923. Its infant home in Far Rockaway was at the intersection of Plainview Avenue and Central Avenue/Beach 20th Street, and an address of both 310 Central Avenue and 310 Beach 20th Street. It still operates an early childhood program/day care program for ages pre-kindergarten through kindergarten on a nonsectarian basis at that location.
Note: Three different fundraising tokens were issued, all of which contain the address of the day school on Montgomery Street as well as the addresses of the orphanage on Plainview Avenue and Central Avenue, in Far Rockaway. This is the most common of the three tokens, and apparently issued in connection with the August 1923 fund drive for the completion of that building.Stkp
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Home of Old Israel (New York, New York)AE token, 32.5 mm., undated (but probably minted in 1928).
Obv: תשליכני לצת זקנה אל [Do not cast us off in our old age. (Psalm 71:9)] and 204 HENRY ST., N.Y.C. along toothed rim, TO PITY/IS HUMAN/TO HELP/IS/GODLIKE/HOME OF/OLD ISRAEL, between busts of woman and bearded man.
Rev: HELP US BUILD OUR NEW HOME and 301-2-3 EAST BWAY., N.Y.C. along toothed rim with rosettes between, CONTRIBUTION.ONE DOLLAR, beneath building.
Ref: Meshorer, Coins Reveal 146; Randolph, Marc A. “Jewish Homes for the Aged Tokens,” The Shekel, XXXVI No. 3 (May-June 2003) 14-19, Figure 7.
Note: Founded in 1922 by real estate developer Louis Singer as a privately-endowed non-sectarian institution providing free housing, meals, activities and care of the aged, the Home moved from Henry Street to 70 Jefferson Street on March 31, 1929. It relocated to Far Rockaway, Queens in 1965. In the early 1970s the Home merged into the Jewish Association for Services for the Aged.
Note: In 1922, the Rabbi Isaac Elchanan Theological Seminary (the rabbinical seminary of Yeshiva University) was located at 301-303 East Broadway, and only moved to 186th Street and Amsterdam Avenue in 1928/1929. The Home must not have also occupied the East Broadway address, therefore, until 1928/1929. Thus, the token can be tentatively dated to 1928 (while the Home was still located at Henry Street but after it expanded into East Broadway). It was probably issued in connection with the 1928 fund drive for the Jefferson Street property.Stkp
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Home of the Sons and Daughters of Israel (New York, New York)AE token, 19 x 44.5 mm. (rectangular), 11.429 gr., undated (but probably issued ca. 1935).
Obv: HOME OF SONS/AND DAUGHTERS/OF ISRAEL above building 232 E. 12 ST./NEW YORK, N.Y., below building.
Rev: BUY A BRICK/$1.00/HELP US AND/GOD/WILL/HELP YOU between busts of woman and bearded man.
Ref: Meshorer, Coins Reveal 140; Friedenberg, Jewish Minters [?] 476; Leonard, Jr., Robert D. “Home of the Sons and Daughters of Israel: Its History and Contribution Tokens.” The Shekel, XXXVIII No. 6 (Nov. to Dec. 2005). pp. 14-23; Randolph, Marc A. “Jewish Homes for the Aged Tokens,” The Shekel, XXXVI No. 3 (May-June 2003) 14-19, Figure 6; ANS Database 2000.1.261.
Note: Organized in 1909 and incorporated in 1912, the Home acquired 230 East Tenth Street in December 1914. The adjacent 232 East Tenth Street was acquired by April 1915, and in May 1919 plans for a new building, encompassing both addresses, were approved. On June 21, 1925 the Home expanded into yet a third adjacent building on East Tenth Street. On December 22, 1935, it relocated to a larger building at 232-38 East Twelfth Street, where it remained in operation until the mid-1960s.
Note: This token was issued after the acquisition of the East Twelfth Street building, in or about 1935.Stkp
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Home of the Sons and Daughters of Israel (New York, New York)AE token, 32.7 mm., 10.639 gr., undated (but probably issued in 1923 or 1928).
Obv: THE GREAT DRIVE FOR A HOME FOR THE AGED and 232 E. 10 ST., along toothed rim, HELP US/BUILD above building and HOME OF THE/SONS AND DAUGHTERS/OF ISRAEL below building.
Rev: CONTRIBUTION and ONE DOLLAR along toothed rim, HELP US/AND/GOD/WILL/HELP YOU between busts of woman and bearded man.
Ref: Meshorer, Coins Reveal 147; Kenny, So-Called Dollars 229; Leonard, Jr., Robert D. “Home of the Sons and Daughters of Israel: Its History and Contribution Tokens.” The Shekel, XXXVIII No. 6 (Nov. to Dec. 2005). pp. 14-23 (this token is depicted as Obverse C); Randolph, Marc A. “Jewish Homes for the Aged Tokens,” The Shekel, XXXVI No. 3 (May-June 2003) 14-19, Figure 5; ANS Database 2000.1.511.
Note: Organized in 1909 and incorporated in 1912, the Home acquired 230 East Tenth Street in December 1914. The adjacent 232 East Tenth Street was acquired by April 1915, and in May 1919 plans for a new building, encompassing both addresses, were approved. On June 21, 1925 the Home expanded into yet a third adjacent building on East Tenth Street. On December 22, 1935, it relocated to a larger building at 232-38 East Twelfth Street, where it remained in operation until the mid-1960s.
Note: There was a $400,000 fund drive in 1923 and a $100,000 fund drive in 1928, and this token could have been issued in connection with either of those events.
Note: Leonard noted that these tokens were made in such large numbers that three obverse dies were required (the designation of obverse and reverse on these is arbitrary, and I refer to the side which Leonard termed the obverse as the reverse). The differences noted by Leonard pertain to the distance between the rim and the words CONTRIBUTION and ONE DOLLAR, the relief of the woman, especially at the shoulder, and the man’s bust. But there are also others. This token is Leonard Obverse C (described by Leonard as CONTRIBUTION/ONE DOLLAR far from rim, woman’s shoulder in low relief, man’s bust retouched).
ex Robert J. Leonard, Jr. collection.Stkp
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Home of the Sons and Daughters of Israel (New York, New York)AE token, 32.7 mm., 10.639 gr., undated (but probably issued in 1923 or 1928).
Obv: THE GREAT DRIVE FOR A HOME FOR THE AGED and 232 E. 10 ST., along toothed rim, HELP US/BUILD above building and HOME OF THE/SONS AND DAUGHTERS/OF ISRAEL below building.
Rev: CONTRIBUTION and ONE DOLLAR along toothed rim, HELP US/AND/GOD/WILL/HELP YOU between busts of woman and bearded man.
Ref: Meshorer, Coins Reveal 147; Kenny, So-Called Dollars 229; Leonard, Jr., Robert D. “Home of the Sons and Daughters of Israel: Its History and Contribution Tokens.” The Shekel, XXXVIII No. 6 (Nov. to Dec. 2005). pp. 14-23 (this token is depicted as Obverse B); Randolph, Marc A. “Jewish Homes for the Aged Tokens,” The Shekel, XXXVI No. 3 (May-June 2003) 14-19, Figure 5; ANS Database 2000.1.511.
Note: Organized in 1909 and incorporated in 1912, the Home acquired 230 East Tenth Street in December 1914. The adjacent 232 East Tenth Street was acquired by April 1915, and in May 1919 plans for a new building, encompassing both addresses, were approved. On June 21, 1925 the Home expanded into yet a third adjacent building on East Tenth Street. On December 22, 1935, it relocated to a larger building at 232-38 East Twelfth Street, where it remained in operation until the mid-1960s.
Note: There was a $400,000 fund drive in 1923 and a $100,000 fund drive in 1928, and this token could have been issued in connection with either of those events.
Note: Leonard noted that these tokens were made in such large numbers that three obverse dies were required (the designation of obverse and reverse on these is arbitrary, and I refer to the side which Leonard termed the obverse as the reverse). The differences noted by Leonard pertain to the distance between the rim and the words CONTRIBUTION and ONE DOLLAR, the relief of the woman, especially at the shoulder, and the man’s bust. But there are also others. This token is Leonard Obverse B (described by Leonard as CONTRIBUTION/ONE DOLLAR near rim, woman’s shoulder in low relief).
ex Robert J. Leonard, Jr. collection.Stkp
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Home of the Sons and Daughters of Israel (New York, New York)AE token, 32.7 mm., 10.639 gr., undated (but probably issued in 1923 or 1928).
Obv: THE GREAT DRIVE FOR A HOME FOR THE AGED and 232 E. 10 ST., along toothed rim, HELP US/BUILD above building and HOME OF THE/SONS AND DAUGHTERS/OF ISRAEL below building.
Rev: CONTRIBUTION and ONE DOLLAR along toothed rim, HELP US/AND/GOD/WILL/HELP YOU between busts of woman and bearded man.
Ref: Meshorer, Coins Reveal 147; Kenny, So-Called Dollars 229; Leonard, Jr., Robert D. “Home of the Sons and Daughters of Israel: Its History and Contribution Tokens.” The Shekel, XXXVIII No. 6 (Nov. to Dec. 2005). pp. 14-23 (this token is depicted as Obverse A); Randolph, Marc A. “Jewish Homes for the Aged Tokens,” The Shekel, XXXVI No. 3 (May-June 2003) 14-19, Figure 5; ANS Database 2000.1.511.
Note: Organized in 1909 and incorporated in 1912, the Home acquired 230 East Tenth Street in December 1914. The adjacent 232 East Tenth Street was acquired by April 1915, and in May 1919 plans for a new building, encompassing both addresses, were approved. On June 21, 1925 the Home expanded into yet a third adjacent building on East Tenth Street. On December 22, 1935, it relocated to a larger building at 232-38 East Twelfth Street, where it remained in operation until the mid-1960s.
Note: There was a $400,000 fund drive in 1923 and a $100,000 fund drive in 1928, and this token could have been issued in connection with either of those events.
Note: Leonard noted that these tokens were made in such large numbers that three obverse dies were required (the designation of obverse and reverse on these is arbitrary, and I refer to the side which Leonard termed the obverse as the reverse). The differences noted by Leonard pertain to the distance between the rim and the words CONTRIBUTION and ONE DOLLAR, the relief of the woman, especially at the shoulder, and the man’s bust. But there are also others. This token is Leonard Obverse A (described by Leonard as CONTRIBUTION/ONE DOLLAR far from rim, woman in high relief).
ex Robert J. Leonard, Jr. collection.Stkp
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Israel, Scythopolis (Beit She'an)Scythopolis is the only one of the ten ‘Decapolis’ towns situated within the borders of modern Israel. The classical city was destroyed by an earthquake in 749 CE; its ruins are extensive and quite well-preserved. Prominent in the photo is the colonnaded Byzantine ‘Silvanus Street’ (the excavators named it after a local magistrate mentioned in an inscription as responsible for its renewal) which follows the route of the earlier Roman cardo maximus.
Sythopolis was built in the shadow of the earlier Canaanite city of Beit She’an, where (according to 1 Samuel 31) the Philistines, after their victory on Mount Gilboa, displayed the bodies of King Saul and his sons on the city walls. The vast mound of Tel Beit She’an is conspicuous in the background. Twenty settlement strata have been identified there, the earliest dating back to the Neolithic (5th millennium BCE). A section of the eastern Canaanite city walls has also been excavated and is visible in the photo.
Abu Galyon
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Italy, Cosenza, Sibari (Thurium), StreetLucania, Thourioi.
Today Sibari (Cosenza), Italy
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Italy, Ostia - StreetIt is like stepping back in time....
Posted by Strength And Honour.
Photo taken by my friend Hebe.
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Italy, Pompeii - residential streetOne of the numerous residential streets in Pompeii. July 2008Mark Z
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Italy, Pompeii - streetAnother great shot of another street in Pompeii. The stepping stones in the foreground can be found all around the city. As I'm sure you know, water ran constantly through the streets, and pedestrians used these stepping stones to keep their feet dry.Mark Z
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Italy, Sicily, View of Solanto from the ruins of Soluntum (aka Solus, Solous, and Kefra)View of Solanto from the ruins of Soluntum (aka Solus, Solous, and Kefra), Sicily
Solus (or Soluntum, near modern Solanto) was an ancient city on the north coast of Sicily, one of the three chief Phoenician settlements on the island, about 16 kilometers (10 miles) east of Panormus (modern Palermo). It lay 183 meters (600 ft) above sea level, on the southeast side of Monte Catalfano 373 meters (1,225 ft), in a naturally strong situation, and commanding a fine view. The date of its founding is unknown. Solus was one of the few colonies that the Phoenicians retained when they withdrew to the northwest corner of the island before the advance of the Greek colonies in Sicily. Together with Panormus and Motya, it allied with the Carthaginians. In 396 B.C. Dionysius took the city but it probably soon broke away again to Carthage and was usually part of their dominions on the island. In 307 B.C. it was given to the soldiers and mercenaries of Agathocles, who had made peace with the Carthage when abandoned by their leader in Africa. During the First Punic War it was still subject to Carthage, and it was not until after the fall of Panormus that Soluntum also opened its gates to the Romans. It continued to under Roman dominion as a municipal town, but apparently one of no great importance, as its name is only slightly and occasionally mentioned by Cicero. But it is still noticed both by Pliny and Ptolemy, as well as at a later period by the Itineraries. Its destruction probably dates from the time of the Saracens.
Excavations have brought to light considerable remains of the ancient town, belonging entirely to the Roman period, and a good deal still remains unexplored. The traces of two ancient roads, paved with large blocks of stone, which led up to the city, may still be followed, and the whole summit of Monte Catalfano is covered with fragments of ancient walls and foundations of buildings. Among these may be traced the remains of two temples, of which some capitals and portions of friezes, have been discovered. An archaic oriental Artemis sitting between a lion and a panther, found here, is in the museum at Palermo, with other antiquities from this site. An inscription, erected by the citizens in honor of Fulvia Plautilla, the wife of Caracalla, was found there in 1857. With the exception of the winding road by which the town was approached on the south, the streets, despite the unevenness of the ground, which in places is so steep that steps have to be introduced, are laid out regularly, running from east to west and from north to south, and intersecting at right angles. They are as a rule paved with slabs of stone. The houses were constructed of rough walling, which was afterwards plastered over; the natural rock is often used for the lower part of the walls. One of the largest of them, with a peristyle, was in 1911, though wrongly, called the gymnasium. Near the top of the town are some cisterns cut in the rock, and at the summit is a larger house than usual, with mosaic pavements and paintings on its walls. Several sepulchres also have been found.
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soluntum
Photo by Allie Caulfield from Germany.Joe Sermarini
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Italy- Pompeii- House with remains of painting and streetPeter Wissing
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Italy- Pompeii- Street and a housesINTERSECTION Pompeii After 80 B.C.
This is a typical intersection. Wheeled traffic passed over and around the pedestrian stepping stones.Peter Wissing
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Italy- Pompeii- Street and a wall with a fallos in the top leftINTERSECTION Pompeii After 80 B.C.
This is a typical intersection. Wheeled traffic passed over and around the pedestrian stepping stones.
House with a fallos in the top left cornerPeter Wissing
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Italy- Pompeii- Street and the Arch of CaligulaINTERSECTION Pompeii After 80 B.C.
This is a typical intersection. Wheeled traffic passed over and around the pedestrian stepping stones.
The Arch of Caligula
Pompeii. The arch of Caligula leading to the House of Mercurio at the top of the street. The Arch of Caligula with a view of Mt. Vesuvius in the background. The gaps in the stone barrier were meant for chariot wheels to pass through.
Peter Wissing
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Italy- Pompeii- Street with wheel tracks and stonesINTERSECTION Pompeii After 80 B.C.
This is a typical intersection. Wheeled traffic passed over and around the pedestrian stepping stones.
Peter Wissing
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Italy- Pompeii- Street with wheel tracks and stonesINTERSECTION Pompeii After 80 B.C.
This is a typical intersection. Wheeled traffic passed over and around the pedestrian stepping stones.
Peter Wissing
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Italy- Pompeii- The Forum 1The Forum
ENTRANCE TO THE FORUM Forum of Pompeii After 80 B.C. One of the two arches originally covered with marble which flank the Temple of Jupiter and are the main entrances to the forum. The temple was built under the Samnites in the second century B.C.
FORUM OF POMPEII After 80 B.C. The Forum of Pompeii has a central rectangular space, 466 feet long by 124 feet wide, surrounded by the most important public buildings in the city. Like other forums, it is set up on an axial plan. A colonnade lines three sides. In the center of the fourth side, visible in the distance, is the Temple of Jupiter, known as the Capitolium. The forum was paved with travertine stone and only pedestrians were permitted in its precinct. Situated on an old site, it was largely rebuilt after 80 B.C. when Pompeii became a Roman colony. The forum was again in the process of rebuilding after the earthquake of 62 AD. It was buried under the eruption of Vesuvius seen in the distance in 79.
FORUM (VII,8)
The first monumental arrangement dates from the 2nd cent. BC, with a few buildings and the porticos with their double row of tufa columns, replaced with white limestone in the imperial age, when the site was repaved and buildings added on the east side where shops had previously stood. Located at the intersection between the two main streets of the original urban center, the Forum was the city's main square, where cart traffic was forbidden: it was surrounded on all sides by religious, political, and business buildings. In the 1st cent. AD the Forum highlighted the celebratory intention of the imperial house, where the monumental bases for commemorative statues were placed on the south side, in front of the city's administrative buildings, while those of illustrious citizens stood along the porticos : the sculptures have not been found, perhaps because they were removed by the people of Pompeii who returned after the eruption to take whatever they could. In the center of the western side stands an orators' tribune.
MEMORIAL ARCHES
In opus latericium, at one time covered with marble, these elegantly enclose the Forum to the north, in celebration of the imperial family. Of the two built on either side of the Temple of Jupiter, the one to the west is attributed to Augustus, the east to Nero, perhaps demolished following the death (68 AD) and sentencing of the emperor, or simply to avoid blocking the view of the other arch behind it, at the north entrance to the Forum. This has two niches on one side that once held statues of Nero and Drusus, on the other side two fountains; an equestrian statue (perhaps of the emperor Tiberius) topped this arch. The other arch, in the back at the start of Via di Mercurio, is called the Caligula Arch because an equestrian statue was found nearby, that may have depicted the emperor Caligula and probably stood on the arch.
Peter Wissing
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Italy- Pompeii- The Forum columns 1The Forum
ENTRANCE TO THE FORUM Forum of Pompeii After 80 B.C. One of the two arches originally covered with marble which flank the Temple of Jupiter and are the main entrances to the forum. The temple was built under the Samnites in the second century B.C.
FORUM OF POMPEII After 80 B.C. The Forum of Pompeii has a central rectangular space, 466 feet long by 124 feet wide, surrounded by the most important public buildings in the city. Like other forums, it is set up on an axial plan. A colonnade lines three sides. In the center of the fourth side, visible in the distance, is the Temple of Jupiter, known as the Capitolium. The forum was paved with travertine stone and only pedestrians were permitted in its precinct. Situated on an old site, it was largely rebuilt after 80 B.C. when Pompeii became a Roman colony. The forum was again in the process of rebuilding after the earthquake of 62 AD. It was buried under the eruption of Vesuvius seen in the distance in 79.
FORUM (VII,8)
The first monumental arrangement dates from the 2nd cent. BC, with a few buildings and the porticos with their double row of tufa columns, replaced with white limestone in the imperial age, when the site was repaved and buildings added on the east side where shops had previously stood. Located at the intersection between the two main streets of the original urban center, the Forum was the city's main square, where cart traffic was forbidden: it was surrounded on all sides by religious, political, and business buildings. In the 1st cent. AD the Forum highlighted the celebratory intention of the imperial house, where the monumental bases for commemorative statues were placed on the south side, in front of the city's administrative buildings, while those of illustrious citizens stood along the porticos : the sculptures have not been found, perhaps because they were removed by the people of Pompeii who returned after the eruption to take whatever they could. In the center of the western side stands an orators' tribune.
Peter Wissing
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Italy- Rome- Actual roman street levelThe old roman street level is about 6- 10 m lower than comtemporary one.Peter Wissing
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Italy- Rome- Actual roman street level and a templeThe old roman street level is about 6- 10 m lower than comtemporary one.Peter Wissing
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Italy- Rome- Coliseum constructed by Flavius and seen from outsideColosseum
The Colosseum or Coliseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre (lat. Amphitheatrum Flavium), is an amphitheatre in Rome, capable of seating 50,000 spectators, which was once used for gladiatorial combat. It was built by Emperor Vespasian and his son, Titus, between AD 72 and AD 90. It was built at the site of Nero's enormous palace, the Domus Aurea. The Colosseum's name is derived from a colossus (a 130-foot or 40-metre statue) of Nero which once stood nearby.
Construction
The construction of the Colosseum began under the Emperor Vespasian in AD 72 and was completed by his son, Titus, in the 80s AD. It was built at the site of Nero's enormous palace, the Domus Aurea, which had been built after the great fire of Rome in AD 64. Some historians are of the opinion that the construction of the Colosseum might have been financed by the looting of King Herod the Great's Temple in Jerusalem which occurred about AD 70. Dio Cassius said that 9,000 wild animals were killed in the one hundred days of celebration which inaugurated the amphitheatre opening. The arena floor was covered with sand to sop up the blood.
The Colosseum hosted large-scale spectacular games that included fights between animals (venationes), the killing of prisoners by animals and other executions (noxii), naval battles (naumachiae, via flooding the arena), and combats between gladiators (munera). It has been estimated that between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people died in the Colosseum games.
History of the name Colosseum
The Colosseum's name is derived from a colossus (a 130-foot or 40-metre statue) of Nero nearby. This statue was later remodeled by Nero's successors into the likeness of Sol, the sun god, by adding the appropriate solar crown. The link to Nero's colossus seems to have been forgotten over time, and the name was corrupted to Coliseum in the Middle Ages. Both names are frequently used in modern English, but "Flavian Amphitheatre" is generally unknown. In Italy, it is still known as il colosseo, but other Romance languages have gone for forms such as le colisée and el coliseo.
Description
The Colosseum measured 48 metres high, 188 metres long, and 156 metres wide. The wooden arena floor was 86 metres by 54 metres, and covered by sand. Its elliptical shape kept the players from retreating to a corner, and allowed the spectators to be closer to the action than a circle would allow.
The Colosseum was ingeniously designed. It has been said that most spectacle venues (stadiums, and similar) have been influenced by features of the Colosseum's structure, even well into modern times. Seating (cavea) was divided into different sections. The podium, the first level of seating, was for the Roman senators, and the emperor's private, cushioned, marble box was also located on this level. Above the podium was the maenianum primum, for the other Roman aristocrats who were not in the senate. The third level, the maenianum secundum, was divided into three sections. The lower part (the immum) was for wealthy citizens, while the upper part (the summum) was for poor citizens. A third, wooden section (the maenianum secundum in legneis) was a wooden structure at the very top of the building, added by Domitian. It was standing room only, and was for lower class women.
Underneath the arena was the hypogeum (literally, "underground"), a network of tunnels and cages where gladiators and animals were held before contests began. There were also numerous trap doors in the arena floor for the various animals hidden underneath. The arena floor no longer exists, and the hypogeum walls and corridors are clearly visible in the ruins of the building. The entire base of the Colosseum was equivalent to 6 acres (160,000 m²).
A most ingenious part of the Colosseum was its cooling system. It was roofed using a canvas covered net-like structure made of ropes, with a hole in the center. This roof sloped down towards the center to catch the wind and provide a breeze for the audience. Sailors manipulated the ropes. The Colosseum also had vomitoria - passageways that open into a tier of seats from below or behind. The vomitoria of the Colosseum in Rome were designed so that the immense venue could fill in 15 minutes, and be evacuated in 5 minutes. Each entrance and exit was numbered, as was each staircase. There were 80 entrances at ground level, 76 for ordinary spectators, two for the imperial family, and two for the gladiators. The vomitoria quickly dispersed people into their seats and upon conclusion of the event disgorged them with abruptness into the surrounding streets - giving rise, presumably, to the name.
Later history
The Colosseum was in continuous use until 217, when it was damaged by fire after it was struck by lightning. It was restored in 238 and gladiatorial games continued until Christianity gradually put an end to those parts of them which included the death of humans. The building was used for various purposes, mostly venationes (animal hunts), until 524. Two earthquakes (in 442 and 508) caused a great damage to the structure. In the Middle Ages, it was severely damaged by further earthquakes (847 and 1349), and was then converted into a fortress. The marble that originally covered it was burned to make quicklime. During the Renaissance, but mostly in the Baroque age, the ruling Roman families (from which many popes came) used it as a source of marble for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica and the private Palazzi. A famous description is in the saying Quod non fecerunt Barbari, fecerunt Barberini; what the Barbarians weren't able to do, was done by the Barberinis (one such family).
The Venerable Bede (c. 672-735) wrote
Quandiu stabit coliseus, stabit et Roma; (As long as the Colosseum stands, so shall Rome)
Quando cadit coliseus, cadet et Roma (When the Colosseum falls, so shall Rome)
Quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus. (When Rome falls, so shall the world)
Note that he used coliseus, i.e. he made the name a masculine noun. This form is no longer in use.
In 1749, as a very early example of historic preservation, Pope Benedict XIV forbade the use of the Colosseum as a quarry. He consecrated the building to the Passion of Christ and installed Stations of the Cross, declaring it sanctified by the blood of the Christian martyrs who were thought to have perished there. Later popes initiated various stabilization and restoration projects. Every Good Friday the pope leads a procession within the ellipse in memory of Christian martyrs. However, there is no historical evidence that Christians were tortured and killed in the Colosseum [2]. It is presumed that the majority of Christian martyrdom in Rome took place at the Circus Maximus.
In recent years, the local authorities of Rome have illuminated the Colosseum all night long whenever someone condemned to the death penalty gets commuted or released.
Peter Wissing
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Italy- Rome- Coliseum seen from outsideColosseum
The Colosseum or Coliseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre (lat. Amphitheatrum Flavium), is an amphitheatre in Rome, capable of seating 50,000 spectators, which was once used for gladiatorial combat. It was built by Emperor Vespasian and his son, Titus, between AD 72 and AD 90. It was built at the site of Nero's enormous palace, the Domus Aurea. The Colosseum's name is derived from a colossus (a 130-foot or 40-metre statue) of Nero which once stood nearby.
Construction
The construction of the Colosseum began under the Emperor Vespasian in AD 72 and was completed by his son, Titus, in the 80s AD. It was built at the site of Nero's enormous palace, the Domus Aurea, which had been built after the great fire of Rome in AD 64. Some historians are of the opinion that the construction of the Colosseum might have been financed by the looting of King Herod the Great's Temple in Jerusalem which occurred about AD 70. Dio Cassius said that 9,000 wild animals were killed in the one hundred days of celebration which inaugurated the amphitheatre opening. The arena floor was covered with sand to sop up the blood.
The Colosseum hosted large-scale spectacular games that included fights between animals (venationes), the killing of prisoners by animals and other executions (noxii), naval battles (naumachiae, via flooding the arena), and combats between gladiators (munera). It has been estimated that between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people died in the Colosseum games.
History of the name Colosseum
The Colosseum's name is derived from a colossus (a 130-foot or 40-metre statue) of Nero nearby. This statue was later remodeled by Nero's successors into the likeness of Sol, the sun god, by adding the appropriate solar crown. The link to Nero's colossus seems to have been forgotten over time, and the name was corrupted to Coliseum in the Middle Ages. Both names are frequently used in modern English, but "Flavian Amphitheatre" is generally unknown. In Italy, it is still known as il colosseo, but other Romance languages have gone for forms such as le colisée and el coliseo.
Description
The Colosseum measured 48 metres high, 188 metres long, and 156 metres wide. The wooden arena floor was 86 metres by 54 metres, and covered by sand. Its elliptical shape kept the players from retreating to a corner, and allowed the spectators to be closer to the action than a circle would allow.
The Colosseum was ingeniously designed. It has been said that most spectacle venues (stadiums, and similar) have been influenced by features of the Colosseum's structure, even well into modern times. Seating (cavea) was divided into different sections. The podium, the first level of seating, was for the Roman senators, and the emperor's private, cushioned, marble box was also located on this level. Above the podium was the maenianum primum, for the other Roman aristocrats who were not in the senate. The third level, the maenianum secundum, was divided into three sections. The lower part (the immum) was for wealthy citizens, while the upper part (the summum) was for poor citizens. A third, wooden section (the maenianum secundum in legneis) was a wooden structure at the very top of the building, added by Domitian. It was standing room only, and was for lower class women.
Underneath the arena was the hypogeum (literally, "underground"), a network of tunnels and cages where gladiators and animals were held before contests began. There were also numerous trap doors in the arena floor for the various animals hidden underneath. The arena floor no longer exists, and the hypogeum walls and corridors are clearly visible in the ruins of the building. The entire base of the Colosseum was equivalent to 6 acres (160,000 m²).
A most ingenious part of the Colosseum was its cooling system. It was roofed using a canvas covered net-like structure made of ropes, with a hole in the center. This roof sloped down towards the center to catch the wind and provide a breeze for the audience. Sailors manipulated the ropes. The Colosseum also had vomitoria - passageways that open into a tier of seats from below or behind. The vomitoria of the Colosseum in Rome were designed so that the immense venue could fill in 15 minutes, and be evacuated in 5 minutes. Each entrance and exit was numbered, as was each staircase. There were 80 entrances at ground level, 76 for ordinary spectators, two for the imperial family, and two for the gladiators. The vomitoria quickly dispersed people into their seats and upon conclusion of the event disgorged them with abruptness into the surrounding streets - giving rise, presumably, to the name.
Later history
The Colosseum was in continuous use until 217, when it was damaged by fire after it was struck by lightning. It was restored in 238 and gladiatorial games continued until Christianity gradually put an end to those parts of them which included the death of humans. The building was used for various purposes, mostly venationes (animal hunts), until 524. Two earthquakes (in 442 and 508) caused a great damage to the structure. In the Middle Ages, it was severely damaged by further earthquakes (847 and 1349), and was then converted into a fortress. The marble that originally covered it was burned to make quicklime. During the Renaissance, but mostly in the Baroque age, the ruling Roman families (from which many popes came) used it as a source of marble for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica and the private Palazzi. A famous description is in the saying Quod non fecerunt Barbari, fecerunt Barberini; what the Barbarians weren't able to do, was done by the Barberinis (one such family).
The Venerable Bede (c. 672-735) wrote
Quandiu stabit coliseus, stabit et Roma; (As long as the Colosseum stands, so shall Rome)
Quando cadit coliseus, cadet et Roma (When the Colosseum falls, so shall Rome)
Quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus. (When Rome falls, so shall the world)
Note that he used coliseus, i.e. he made the name a masculine noun. This form is no longer in use.
In 1749, as a very early example of historic preservation, Pope Benedict XIV forbade the use of the Colosseum as a quarry. He consecrated the building to the Passion of Christ and installed Stations of the Cross, declaring it sanctified by the blood of the Christian martyrs who were thought to have perished there. Later popes initiated various stabilization and restoration projects. Every Good Friday the pope leads a procession within the ellipse in memory of Christian martyrs. However, there is no historical evidence that Christians were tortured and killed in the Colosseum [2]. It is presumed that the majority of Christian martyrdom in Rome took place at the Circus Maximus.
In recent years, the local authorities of Rome have illuminated the Colosseum all night long whenever someone condemned to the death penalty gets commuted or released.
Peter Wissing
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Italy- Rome- Coliseum seen from outside 1Colosseum
The Colosseum or Coliseum, originally known as the Flavian Amphitheatre (lat. Amphitheatrum Flavium), is an amphitheatre in Rome, capable of seating 50,000 spectators, which was once used for gladiatorial combat. It was built by Emperor Vespasian and his son, Titus, between AD 72 and AD 90. It was built at the site of Nero's enormous palace, the Domus Aurea. The Colosseum's name is derived from a colossus (a 130-foot or 40-metre statue) of Nero which once stood nearby.
Construction
The construction of the Colosseum began under the Emperor Vespasian in AD 72 and was completed by his son, Titus, in the 80s AD. It was built at the site of Nero's enormous palace, the Domus Aurea, which had been built after the great fire of Rome in AD 64. Some historians are of the opinion that the construction of the Colosseum might have been financed by the looting of King Herod the Great's Temple in Jerusalem which occurred about AD 70. Dio Cassius said that 9,000 wild animals were killed in the one hundred days of celebration which inaugurated the amphitheatre opening. The arena floor was covered with sand to sop up the blood.
The Colosseum hosted large-scale spectacular games that included fights between animals (venationes), the killing of prisoners by animals and other executions (noxii), naval battles (naumachiae, via flooding the arena), and combats between gladiators (munera). It has been estimated that between 500,000 and 1,000,000 people died in the Colosseum games.
History of the name Colosseum
The Colosseum's name is derived from a colossus (a 130-foot or 40-metre statue) of Nero nearby. This statue was later remodeled by Nero's successors into the likeness of Sol, the sun god, by adding the appropriate solar crown. The link to Nero's colossus seems to have been forgotten over time, and the name was corrupted to Coliseum in the Middle Ages. Both names are frequently used in modern English, but "Flavian Amphitheatre" is generally unknown. In Italy, it is still known as il colosseo, but other Romance languages have gone for forms such as le colisée and el coliseo.
Description
The Colosseum measured 48 metres high, 188 metres long, and 156 metres wide. The wooden arena floor was 86 metres by 54 metres, and covered by sand. Its elliptical shape kept the players from retreating to a corner, and allowed the spectators to be closer to the action than a circle would allow.
The Colosseum was ingeniously designed. It has been said that most spectacle venues (stadiums, and similar) have been influenced by features of the Colosseum's structure, even well into modern times. Seating (cavea) was divided into different sections. The podium, the first level of seating, was for the Roman senators, and the emperor's private, cushioned, marble box was also located on this level. Above the podium was the maenianum primum, for the other Roman aristocrats who were not in the senate. The third level, the maenianum secundum, was divided into three sections. The lower part (the immum) was for wealthy citizens, while the upper part (the summum) was for poor citizens. A third, wooden section (the maenianum secundum in legneis) was a wooden structure at the very top of the building, added by Domitian. It was standing room only, and was for lower class women.
Underneath the arena was the hypogeum (literally, "underground"), a network of tunnels and cages where gladiators and animals were held before contests began. There were also numerous trap doors in the arena floor for the various animals hidden underneath. The arena floor no longer exists, and the hypogeum walls and corridors are clearly visible in the ruins of the building. The entire base of the Colosseum was equivalent to 6 acres (160,000 m²).
A most ingenious part of the Colosseum was its cooling system. It was roofed using a canvas covered net-like structure made of ropes, with a hole in the center. This roof sloped down towards the center to catch the wind and provide a breeze for the audience. Sailors manipulated the ropes. The Colosseum also had vomitoria - passageways that open into a tier of seats from below or behind. The vomitoria of the Colosseum in Rome were designed so that the immense venue could fill in 15 minutes, and be evacuated in 5 minutes. Each entrance and exit was numbered, as was each staircase. There were 80 entrances at ground level, 76 for ordinary spectators, two for the imperial family, and two for the gladiators. The vomitoria quickly dispersed people into their seats and upon conclusion of the event disgorged them with abruptness into the surrounding streets - giving rise, presumably, to the name.
Later history
The Colosseum was in continuous use until 217, when it was damaged by fire after it was struck by lightning. It was restored in 238 and gladiatorial games continued until Christianity gradually put an end to those parts of them which included the death of humans. The building was used for various purposes, mostly venationes (animal hunts), until 524. Two earthquakes (in 442 and 508) caused a great damage to the structure. In the Middle Ages, it was severely damaged by further earthquakes (847 and 1349), and was then converted into a fortress. The marble that originally covered it was burned to make quicklime. During the Renaissance, but mostly in the Baroque age, the ruling Roman families (from which many popes came) used it as a source of marble for the construction of St. Peter's Basilica and the private Palazzi. A famous description is in the saying Quod non fecerunt Barbari, fecerunt Barberini; what the Barbarians weren't able to do, was done by the Barberinis (one such family).
The Venerable Bede (c. 672-735) wrote
Quandiu stabit coliseus, stabit et Roma; (As long as the Colosseum stands, so shall Rome)
Quando cadit coliseus, cadet et Roma (When the Colosseum falls, so shall Rome)
Quando cadet Roma, cadet et mundus. (When Rome falls, so shall the world)
Note that he used coliseus, i.e. he made the name a masculine noun. This form is no longer in use.
In 1749, as a very early example of historic preservation, Pope Benedict XIV forbade the use of the Colosseum as a quarry. He consecrated the building to the Passion of Christ and installed Stations of the Cross, declaring it sanctified by the blood of the Christian martyrs who were thought to have perished there. Later popes initiated various stabilization and restoration projects. Every Good Friday the pope leads a procession within the ellipse in memory of Christian martyrs. However, there is no historical evidence that Christians were tortured and killed in the Colosseum [2]. It is presumed that the majority of Christian martyrdom in Rome took place at the Circus Maximus.
In recent years, the local authorities of Rome have illuminated the Colosseum all night long whenever someone condemned to the death penalty gets commuted or released.
Peter Wissing
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Italy- Rome- Largo (di Torre) ArgentinaLargo di Torre Argentina is a square in Rome that hosts four Republican Roman temples, and the reminings of Pompey's Theater. It is located in the ancient Campus Martius.
Common knowledge refers the name of the square to a Torre Argentina, which is not related to the South American country, but to the city of Strasbourg, whose original name was Argentoratum. In 1503, in fact, John Burckhardt from Strasbourg built in via del Sudario a palace (now at number 44), Casa del Bucardo, annexing a tower, called Torre Argentoratina from the name of his hometown.
After Italian unification, it was decided to reconstruct part of Rome (1909), demolishing the zone of Torre Argentina, where the remainings of a medieval tower, Torre Papito or Torre Boccamazzi, and of one temple were to be included in the new buildings. During the works (1927), however, the colossal head and arms of a marble statue were discovered. The archeological investigation brought to light the presence of a holy area, dating to the Republican era, with four temples and part of Pompey's Theater.
The buildings
The four temples, designated today by the letters A, B, C, and D, front onto a paved street, which was reconstructed in the imperial era, after 80 AD fire.
Temple A was built in the 3rd century BC, and is probably the Temple of Juturna built by Gaius Lutatius Catulus after his victory against Carthaginians in 241 BC. It was later rebuilt into a church, whoes aprses are still present.
Temple B, a circular temple with six columns remaining, was built by Quintus Lutatius Catulus in 101 BC to celebrate his victory over Cimbri; it was Aedes Fortunae Huiusce Diei, a temple devoted to the Luck of the Current Day. The colossal statue found during excavations and now kept in the Capitoline Museums was the statue of the goddess herself. Only the head, the arms, and the legs were of marble: the other parts, covered by the dress, were of bronze.
Temple C is the most ancient of the three, dating back to 4th or 3rd century BC, and was probably devoted to Feronia the ancient Italic goddess of fertility. After the fire of 80 AD, this temple was restored, and the white and black mosaic of the inner temple cell dates back to this restoration.
Temple D is the largest of the four, dates back to 2nd century BC with Late Republican restorations, and was devoted to Lares Permarini, but only a small part of it has been excavated (a street covers the most of it).
Teatro Argentina is a 18th century theater, where Gioachino Rossini's The Barber of Seville debuted in 1816, as well as Giuseppe Verdi's I due Foscari (1844) and La battaglia di Legnano (1849).
Located in the Largo Argentina is the Torre Argentina Cat Sanctuary, a no-kill shelter for homeless cats (of which Rome has many). The presence of the shelter proves to be a point of interest for both tourists and locals, as the historical area abounds with various breeds of cat, cavorting and lounging about on the ancient (and semi-ancient) ruins.
Peter Wissing
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Italy- Rome- Pantheon and the old street level besideThe inscription on the architrave of the portico "M. Agrippa L. F. Cos tertium fecit" refers to a temple erected by Agrippa in 27 B.C. to the tutelary divinities of the Julia family. In reality Agrippa's building was destroyed by a great fire in A.D. 80. Recent studies have proven that the present Pantheon is a reconstruction of the temple from the time of Hadrian. The interior measures 43.40 meters in diameter, and the same in height. Light and air still enter through the opening at the top (a circle of 8m, 92cms in diameter).
Peter Wissing
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Jewish Home for Aged (Portland, Maine)AE token, 35 mm, undated.
Obv: JEWISH HOME FOR THE AGED, and • PORTLAND - MAINE •, within border around rim, 25¢ to left and right of building in center, SOUVENIR below building.
Rev: KEEP ME and GOOD LUCK within border in upper and lower rim, “תשליכנו / לצת זקנה אל„ [Do not cast us off in our old age. (Psalm 71:9)] and DO NOT CAST US / OFF AT OUR OLD AGE, in center, between profiles of elderly man and woman facing left and right, respectively.
Ref: Randolph, Marc A. “Jewish Homes for the Aged Tokens,” The Shekel, XXXVI No. 3 (May-June 2003) 14-19, Figure 1.
Note: Founded in 1929 and based on North Street, where it remained until 1965. It continues to exist as the Cedars Nursing Care Center.Stkp
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Jewish Home for Wayfarers (Los Angeles, California)Obv: JEWISH HOME FOR WAYFARERS • 1930 TENTH AN-NIVERSARY 1940 • around rim, I HAVE / CONTRIBUTED and AN 6853 / 127 SO. BOYLE AVE. / LOS ANGELES above and below building.
Rev: הכנסת אורחים בית (≈ Home for Wayfarers) and העשירי היוכל לחג נדבתי (≈ I Have Contributed / Tenth Anniversary) around rim, Star of David in center flanked by 1940 and 1930, תש ה אל in center.
Ref: None known.
Founded in 1930 George Saylin, a Latvian immigrant and 1910 graduate of the Buffalo School of Medicine who moved to Los Angeles in 1922. It is listed in the 1946-1947 Jewish Annual Yearbook, and stated to be in the Rowan Building (which was at 131 West 5th Street, and was a prominent office building in the business district). Stkp
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Jewish Old Folks Home (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)AE token, 34 mm., undated.
Obv: JEWISH OLD FOLKS HOME, and • TORONTO •, within border around rim, 25¢ to left and right of building in center, CONTRIBUTION above building, THE ONLY JEWISH HOME / FOR THE AGE / IN / ONTARIO, in four lines, below building.
Rev: KEEP ME and GOOD LUCK within border in upper and lower rim, UP / AND / YOU / WILL / HAVE, in five rows in center, between profiles of elderly man and woman facing left and right, respectively.
Ref: Randolph, Marc A. “Jewish Homes for the Aged Tokens,” The Shekel, XXXVI No. 3 (May-June 2003) 14-19, Figure 3.
Note: Founded in 1918 when the women of the Ezras Noshem Society collected money door-to-door and opened an old age home in a semi-detached house on Cecil Street. By 1954, the building had become too crowded and the building was beyond repair. The insitution purchased a 25-acre site on Bathurst Street, in North York, Ontario, and built the Jewish Home for the Aged. The institution still exists as the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care.Stkp
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Jewish Old Folks Home (Toronto, Ontario, Canada)Aluminum token, 34 mm., 0°, undated.
Obv: JEWISH OLD FOLKS HOME, and • TORONTO •, within border around rim, 100 to left and right of building in center, CONTRIBUTION above building, A BRICK / THE ONLY JEWISH HOME / FOR THE AGE / IN / ONTARIO, in five lines, below building.
Rev: KEEP ME and GOOD LUCK within border in upper and lower rim, UP / AND / YOU / WILL / HAVE, in five rows in center, between profiles of elderly man and woman facing left and right, respectively.
Ref: Randolph, Marc A. “Jewish Homes for the Aged Tokens,” The Shekel, XXXVI No. 3 (May-June 2003) 14-19, Figure 4.
Note: Founded in 1918 when the women of the Ezras Noshem Society collected money door-to-door and opened an old age home in a semi-detached house on Cecil Street (possibly the building shown on the token). By 1954, the building had become too crowded and was beyond repair. The institution purchased a 25-acre site on Bathurst Street, in North York, Ontario, and built the Jewish Home for the Aged. The institution still exists as the Baycrest Centre for Geriatric Care.Stkp
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Jewish Sanitarium for Incurables (Brooklyn, New York)AE token, 32.5 mm., dated 1926.
Obv: THE GREAT DRIVE FOR THE INCURABLES HOME around toothed rim, YOU HELPED BUILD IT, above building, JEWISH/SANITARIUM FOR/INCURABLES/1926 below building.
Rev: CONTRIBUTION and LUCK FOR A BUCK around toothed rim, One and Dollar to sides of crippled man.
Ref: None known.
Note: The Sanitarium was founded in 1925 as a chronic care facility for the Jewish community at Rutland Road and East 49th Street, Brooklyn, New York. In 1954 it changed its name to The Jewish Chronic Disease Hospital (which is where the gene for Tay-Sachs disease was discovered). By the 1960s, in addition to providing long-time care, it provided acute, outpatient, emergency, ambulatory and home care services. It became Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center in 1968.Stkp
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Jordan, Petra - The collonaded streetThis is the centre of the lower city and divides it in north and south.
This is the road that leads to the Semenos gate (at our back)
You can also see the following tombs (from left to right)
Corinthian tomb, Silk tomb and the Urn tomb.pax
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Julia Domna, CybeleJulia Domna, Augusta 194 - 8 April 217 A.D. Copper as, SRCV II 6645, RIC IV 883, Cohen 127, aVF, Rome mint, 10.130g, 25.1mm, 225o, 198 A.D.; obverse IVLIA AVGVSTA, draped bust right; reverse MATER DEVM S C, Cybele enthroned left between two lions, left elbow resting on drum, branch in extended right; scarce. Cybele was born a hermaphrodite, but castrated by the gods, she became female. Heeding the Sibylline oracle, the senate brought her worship to Rome in 204 B.C. as the first officially sanctioned Eastern cult. After approval they were dismayed to learn that the priesthood required voluntary self-castration, which was abhorrent to the Romans. Romans were barred from entering the priesthood or even entering the priest's sanctuary. The eunuch priests, recruited from outside Rome, were confined to their sanctuary, leaving only to parade in the streets during festivals in April. Claudius removed the bans on Roman participation, making worship of Cybele and her consort Attis part of the state religion. ex FORVM Podiceps
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