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Macedonia, Pella AE21. 158-149 BC. Bust of Pan / Athena Alkidemos advancing right. Ref.Sear 1445
( I was given this coin as a bonus by an experienced collector / dealer, to attempt electrolysis on, he had been attempting to clean it with conventional methods for 1½ years, however it remained a nugget... I know some members will object, but 10 minuets in the bath of evil, and the crust just flaked off revealing a pretty and detailed coin!!! How I wish it was always so easy!!)Lee S
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Vespasian, 1 July 69 - 24 June 79 A.D.
SH110254. Silver denarius, RIC II-1 1431; RSC II 276; RPC II 833; BnF III 351; BMCRE II 457, SRCV I 2270, Choice EF, well centered, excellent portrait, light toning, slight double strike, 3.326g, 18.3mm, 180o, Ephesus mint, IMP CAESAR VESPAS AVG COS III TR P P P, laureate head right; reverse PACI AVGVSTAE, Victory advancing right, wreath in extended right hand, palm frond over left shoulder in left hand, EPHE (PHE ligate) lower right; ex Inasta (San Marino) auction 100 (24 Jun 2022), lot 212 Ex: Forum Ancient Coins.
Ephesus peaked during the 1st and 2nd century A.D. when it was second in importance and size only to Rome, with a population estimated at 400,000 to 500,000 in 100 A.D. The city was famous for the Temple of Artemis, the Library of Celsus, and its theater, seating 25,000 spectators. Ephesus also had several large bath complexes and one of the most advanced aqueduct systems in the ancient world. Water powered numerous mills, one of which has been identified as a sawmill for marble. The city and temple were destroyed by the Goths in 263 A.D., marking the decline of the city's splendor.paul1888
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Metapontum, Lucania, c. 340 - 330 B.C.
|Italy|, |Metapontum,| |Lucania,| |c.| |340| |-| |330| |B.C.|, NEWLeukippos (or Leucippus) was a son of king Oinomaos of Pisa. He fell in love with the nymph Daphne and disguised himself as a girl to join her company. When she discovered his true identity in the bath, he was slain by the nymphs. Based on this portrait, his plan was doomed from the start.
Another Leukippos, unrelated to the coin, was a philosopher in the first half of 5th century B.C. This Leukippos was the first Greek to develop the theory of atomism; the idea that everything is composed entirely of various imperishable, indivisible elements called atoms. His theory was elaborated in far greater detail by his pupil and successor, Democritus. Leukippos was born in Miletus or Abdera.
GS110591. Silver nomos, Johnson-Noe B3.15 (same dies); SNG Fitzwilliam 497 (same); Historia Numorum Italy 1576; SNG ANS 443, VF, fine style, toned, areas weakly struck, irregularly shaped flan, Metapontion (Metaponto, Italy) mint, weight 7.812g, maximum diameter 22.5mm, die axis 315o, c. 340 - 330 B.C.; obverse ΛEYKIΠΠOΣ (clockwise from above), head of Leucippus right, bearded, wearing Corinthian helmet with a plain bowl, dog (control symbol) seated left behind; reverse barley ear, stalk and leaf on right, bird with open wings on leaf, META upward on left, AMI below leaf; from the CEB Collection, Ex: Numismatic Fine Arts, Inc, Summer Bid Sale, June 27, 1986, lot 45.paul1888
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317 - 337, CONSTANTINE II as Caesar, AE3 struck 321 at Londinium (London), EnglandObverse: CONSTANTINVS IVN N C. Radiate and cuirassed bust of Constantine II facing left.
Reverse: BEATA TRANQVILLITAS. Altar, inscribed VOT IS XX in three lines, surmounted by cosmic globe with three stars above; across field, P - A; in exergue, PLON.
Diameter: 20mm | Weight: 2.9gms | Die Axis: 6h
RIC VII : 219
Rare
Ex Killingholme Hoard (1993)
Claudius Constantinus was the eldest son of Constantine and Fausta, he was given the rank of Caesar in A.D.316, at the same time as Crispus and Licinius II.
This coin was struck in connection with the fifteenth anniversary of Constantine II's father, Constantine the great.
THE KILLINGHOLME HOARD
The Killingholme Hoard was discovered in a field between Killingholme and Habrough on the south bank of the Humber Estuary by a pair of metal detectorists in the Autumn of 1993.
The initial coins of the hoard were surface finds, many of which were found before the hoard itself was discovered. In total, there were 1504 coins found in the topsoil, and another 2753 found buried in a single clay pot.
The top of the pot had been cut off by ploughing, which had caused a large number of coins to be scattered around the field. Nevertheless, the remains of the pot were found when the coins packed in it were detected. The pot had a diameter of about 20cm and within it were thousands of coins.
One of the finders reported that the coins appeared to have been carefully arranged inside the pot, and seemed to produce a spiralling pattern. Unfortunately, the coins were emptied into a bath for cleaning so any chance of researching this arrangement was lost forever.
The coins that constituted the hoard were bronze reduced folles, most of which were struck between the 320s and the early 330s, during the time of the emperor Constantine. Though the coins came from several mints in the Western part of the Roman Empire, most of them were from the London mint. It is thought that the hoard was probably deposited around 333/334 AD.
Because, in 1993, base metal coins were not counted as treasure, the coins were returned to the finders who sent the bulk of the coins to be auctioned off by Spink of London. Fortunately, prior to being sold, the coins were recorded by the British Museum which acquired for itself 86 coins from the hoard.
After the recordings were completed, though the finders kept a few coins for themselves, the remainder of the coins were sold off in batches. It has been rumoured that many of these coins went to the Italian luxury goods producer Bulgari, who used them to make jewellery.
Such a process would not be permitted in England today as, following the enactment of the Treasure Act in 1996, the Killingholme Hoard would now fulfil the criteria for "treasure" as outlined by the Act.
CONTEMPORARY PHOTO OF THE KILLINGHOLM HOARD, CLICK ON THUMBNAIL TO ENLARGE IT
 *Alex
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IONIA, Ephesos. Alexander.
PB Tessera (17mm, 3.95 g, 4h)
Artemis kneeling right, bathing, within grotto surmounted by half-length figure of Aktaion, wearing antlers and raising arms
Hippocampus right, AΛЄ Ξ around
Gülbay & Kireç –; Gorny & Mosch 212 (5 March 2013), lot 3333 (same dies); Vossen 35 (this coin)
Ex Tom Vossen Collection, 35Ardatirion
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176 - Julian II - AR Reduced Siliqua - RIC VIII Lugdunum 227AR Reduced Siliqua
Obv:– FL CL IVLIA-NVS P P AVG, Pearl diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right
Rev:– VOTIS V MVLTIS X, within wreath
Minted in Lugdunum (//SLVG), Spring A.D. 360 - 26th June A.D. 363
Reference:– RIC VIII Lugdunum 227
17.26 mm. 2.0 gms. 0 degrees
East Harptree Hoard, which was discovered near Bath in 1887. There were 36 coins of this type found in the hoard.maridvnvm
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1794 Undated AE Halfpenny Token. Bath, Somerset.Obverse: IOHN HOWARD F•R•S• HALFPENNY•. Bust of John Howard facing left.
Reverse: REMEMBER THE DEBTORS IN GOAL (sic) ✤. A female figure, the personification of Benevolence, seated facing left, a variety of vessels at her feet and beside her. She is holding a laurel-branch in her left arm and pointing towards a building with a barred window (Ilchester Prison) directing the small figure of a cherub or a child carrying a key to open the prison doors. "GO FORTH" in small letters emanating amid rays from the sky above the small figure.
Edge: PAYABLE AT LONDON OR DUBLIN • + • + • +.
Diameter 29mm | Die Axis 6
Dalton & Hamer: 36d
Thomas Wyon engraved the dies for this token and it was manufactured by William Lutwyche at his works in Birmingham. Lutwyche, besides being a major supplier of genuine tokens, is also known to have made large amounts of spurious coin.
This token was struck in the name of John Howard, who was an expert in prisons and published the book "The State of the Prisons in England & Wales" in 1777, but he did not issue it. The token was issued by William Gye, born in 1750, who worked in his father’s printing works at 4 Westgate Buildings, Bath, before opening an establishment at 13 Market Place. He was an active and successful printer and bookseller, and sometime publisher of the “Bath Courant”, he was highly respected for his attempts to improve the conditions of the city’s poor. His greatest philanthropic endeavours were connected with the relief of the prisoners in the county gaol at Ilchester, which he visited every week with food, clothing and money. He issued trade tokens, and when they were redeemed in his shop, it was his custom to point out the inscription on them (“Remember the debtors”) in order to elicit donations. He died of an apoplectic fit in 1802, and was remembered for his ‘strict integrity and unblemished reputation’. His wife Mary, whom he had married in 1774, inherited his printing and stationery business. Mary managed the business herself before it was passed on to the couple's third son, Henry.*Alex
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1797 Undated AE Halfpenny Token. London, MiddlesexObverse: Mail Coach, with GR cypher on it's door, drawn by four horses galloping right; above, HALFPENNY PAYA-BLE IN LONDON; below, TO TRADE EXPEDIN & TO PROPERTY PROTECTION.
Reverse: THIS IS INSCRIBED ✤ TO J. PALMER ESQ. around AFH cypher within palm branches.
Edge: Plain.
Diameter 28mm | Die Axis 12
Dalton & Hamer: 366
There were several issues of Mail Coach halfpennies, the last dated issue being in 1797. This, the final token in the series is undated, its Mail Coach obverse is similar, but the inscription is different and the reverse has the cypher AFH which has been linked to Anthony Francis Holdinhand, a merchant of 51 St. Mary-Axe in London. St. Mary-Axe is now the site of the well-known "Gherkin" skyscraper which was opened there in 2004.
Though these “Mail Coach” tokens are associated with John Palmer, he did not issue them. Famous in his day the story goes that, on 2nd. August 1784 at 4.00 pm, Palmer began an experimental journey from the "Rummer" Tavern in Bristol. The coach reached the "Three Tuns" in Bath at 5.20 pm and, travelling overnight, arrived at "The Swan with Two Necks" Inn in London at 8.00 am. Palmer, who knew how to operate a fast system of chaises between Bath and Bristol in order to get a quick exchange of actors and properties, had predicted the sixteen hour journey which the Post Office surveyors had said was impossible. The Post Office's mounted 'Post Boys' were taking nearly two days to carry the mail from Bath to London at the time. Palmer's successful experiment led to his appointment as Comptroller-General of the Post Office and, helped by road improvements, a network of routes served by dedicated Mail Coaches spread rapidly.
*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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1ab Conquest of JudeaA. Plautius, moneyer
c. 54 BC
Denarius
Turreted head of Cybele, A PLAVTIVS before, AED CVR SC behind
Bacchius kneels right with camel at his side, extending olive branch, BACCHIVS in ex., IVDAEVS in right
Seaby, Plautia 13
The reverse appears to Pompey's conquest of Judaea in 63 BC.
Josephus recorded of Pompey's conquest of Jerusalem: And when he was come to the city, he looked about where he might make his attack; for he saw the walls were so firm, that it would be hard to overcome them; and that the valley before the walls was terrible; and that the temple, which was within that valley, was itself encompassed with a very strong wall, insomuch that if the city were taken, that temple would be a second place of refuge for the enemy to retire to. . . . Aristobulus's party was worsted, and retired into the temple, and cut off the communication between the temple and the city, by breaking down the bridge that joined them together, and prepared to make an opposition to the utmost; but as the others had received the Romans into the city, and had delivered up the palace to him, Pompey sent Piso, one of his great officers, into that palace with an army, who distributed a garrison about the city, because he could not persuade any one of those that had fled to the temple to come to terms of accommodation; he then disposed all things that were round about them so as might favor their attacks, as having Hyrcanus's party very ready to afford them both counsel and assistance. . . . But Pompey himself filled up the ditch that was oil the north side of the temple, and the entire valley also, the army itself being obliged to carry the materials for that purpose. And indeed it was a hard thing to fill up that valley, by reason of its immense depth, especially as the Jews used all the means possible to repel them from their superior situation; nor had the Romans succeeded in their endeavors, had not Pompey taken notice of the seventh days, on which the Jews abstain from all sorts of work on a religious account, and raised his bank, but restrained his soldiers from fighting on those days; for the Jews only acted defensively on sabbath days. Blindado
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1ao3 Julia DrusillaAE 20 of Smyrna (Izmir, Turkey)
Laureate head of Caligula, right, ΓAION KAICAPA EΠI AOYIOΛA
Drusilla as Persephone seated left, poppies between two stalks of grain in right hand, long scepter vertical behind in left hand, ∆POYCIΛΛAN ZMYPNAIΩN MHNOΦANHC
Caligula’s sister
Klose XXVIII, 27 (Vs4/Rs10); RPC I 2472; SNG Cop 1343; SNGvA 2202; BMC Ionia p. 269, 272
According to Suetonius’ salacious account: Germanicus had married Agrippina the Elder, daughter of Marcus Agrippa and Julia the Elder, and she had borne him nine children. Two died in infancy, another in early childhood. . . .
The other children survived their father: three girls, Agrippina the Younger, Drusilla and Livilla, born in successive years; and three boys, Nero, Drusus, and Gaius Caesar (Caligula). . . . [Caligula] habitually committed incest with each of his three sisters, seating them in turn below him at large banquets while his wife reclined above. It is believed that he violated Drusilla’s virginity while a minor, and been caught in bed with her by his grandmother Antonia, in whose household they were jointly raised. Later, when Drusilla was married to Lucius Cassius Longinus, an ex-consul, he took her from him and openly treated her as his lawful married wife. When he fell ill he made her heir to his estate and the throne.
When Drusilla died (in 38AD) he declared a period of public mourning during which it was a capital offense to laugh, or bathe, or to dine with parents, spouse or children. Caligula himself was so overcome with grief that he fled the City in the middle of the night, and travelled through Campania, and on to Syracuse, returning again with the same degree of haste, and without cutting his hair or shaving. From that time forwards whenever he took an important oath, even in public or in front of the army, he always swore by Drusilla’s divinity.Blindado
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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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1ec_2 Constantine the Great307-337
Follis
Laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right, IMP CONSTANTINVS PF AVG
Sol standing left, chlamys across left shoulder, raising right hand and holding globe in left hand, captive to left. Mintmark RQ.
RIC VII 52
According to Zonaras: Constans, in the eleventh year of his reign since he had been proclaimed Caesar, having ruled gently and mildly, came to the end of his life while residing in Britain, having, because of his goodness, bequeathed grief for himself among those he ruled, first having appointed successor the elder of his own sons, namely Constantine the Great, whom he begat by his first wife. He also had by his second wife, Herculius’ daughter Theodora, other sons, Constantinus, Hannibalianus, and Constantius. Constantine the Great was preferred over them, since they were judged by their father to be unsuited for sovereignty. . . . Constantine, when he was still a lad, was actually given by his father as a hostage to Gallerius, in order that, serving as a hostage, at the same time he be trained in the exercise of the soldierly art.
Eutropius summarizes: CONSTANTINE, being a man of great energy, bent upon effecting whatever he had settled in his mind, and aspiring to the sovereignty of the whole world, proceeded to make war on Licinius, although he had formed a connexion with him by marriage,5 for his sister Constantia was married to Licinius. And first of all be overthrew him, by a sudden attack, at Cibalae in Pannonia, where he was making vast preparations for war; and after becoming master of Dardania, Maesia, and Macedonia, took possession also of several other provinces.
There were then various contests between them, and peace made and broken. At last Licinius, defeated in a battle at Nicomedia by sea and land, surrendered himself, and, in violation of an oath taken by Constantine, was put to death, after being divested of the purple, at Thessalonica.
At this time the Roman empire fell under the sway of one emperor and three Caesars, a state of things which had never existed before; the sons of Constantine ruling over Gaul, the east, and Italy. But the pride of prosperity caused Constantine greatly to depart from his former agreeable mildness of temper. Falling first upon his own relatives, he put to death his son, an excellent man; his sister's son, a youth of amiable disposition; soon afterwards his wife, and subsequently many of his friends.
He was a man, who, in the beginning of his reign, might have been compared to the best princes; in the latter part of it, only to those of a middling character. Innumerable good qualities of mind and body were apparent in him; he was exceedingly ambitious of military glory, and had great success in his wars; a success, however, not more than proportioned to his exertions. After he had terminated the Civil war, he also overthrew the Goths on various occasions, granting them at last peace, and leaving on the minds of the barbarians a strong remembrance of his kindness. He was attached to the arts of peace and to liberal studies, and was ambitious of honourable popularity, which he, indeed, sought by every kind of liberality and obligingness. Though he was slow, from suspicion, to serve some of his friends,6 yet he was exceedingly generous towards others, neglecting no opportunity to add to their riches and honours.
He enacted many laws, some good and equitable, but most of them superfluous, and some severe. He was the first that endeavoured to raise the city named after him to such a height as to make it a rival to Rome. As he was preparing for war against the Parthians, who were then disturbing Mesopotamia, he died in the Villa Publica, at Nicomedia, in the thirty-first year of his reign, and the sixty-sixth of his age.
Zosimus described Constantine's conversion to Christianity: For he put to death his son Crispus, stiled (as I mentioned) Caesar, on suspicion of debauching his mother-in-law Fausta, without any regard to the ties of nature. And when his own mother Helena expressed much sorrow for this atrocity, lamenting the young man's death with great bitterness, Constantine under pretence of comforting her, applied a remedy worse than the disease. For causing a bath to be heated to an extraordinary degree, he shut up Fausta in it, and a short time after took her out dead. Of which his conscience accusing him, as also of violating his oath, he went to the priests to be purified from his crimes. But they told him, that there was no kind of lustration that was sufficient to clear him of such enormities. A Spaniard, named Aegyptius, very familiar with the court-ladies, being at Rome, happened to fall into converse with Constantine, and assured him, that the Christian doctrine would teach him how to cleanse himself from all his offences, and that they who received it were immediately absolved from all their sins. Constantine had no sooner heard this than he easily believed what was told him, and forsaking the rites of his country, received those which Aegyptius offered him ; and for the first instance of his impiety, suspected the truth of divination.Blindado
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1ed FaustaAE 3
Draped bust with pearl necklace, right, FLAV MAX FAVSTA AVG
Fausta Constantine II and Constantius II, FAVSTAE NOBILISSIMAE FEMINAE, mintmark: ΓSIS wreath
RIC 197
Zonaras records: When he had succeeded to his father’s realm, [Constantine] ruled Britain and the Alps, and in addition Gaul, still leaning toward the religion of the Hellenes and opposing the Christians, enticed by his wife Fausta toward ardor in the worship of the idols. Fausta was the daughter of Maximianus. . . . From Fausta, the daughter of Maximianus, the sovereign produced three sons—Constantine, Constantius, and Constans—and a daughter Helen, who later married Julian. . . . Fausta, being erotically obsessed with [her stepson Crispus], since she did not find him compliant, denounced him to his father as being in love with her and as having often attempted to use force against her. Hence, Crispus was condemned to death by his father, who had been persuaded by his spouse. When the emperor later realized the truth, he chastened his wife both because of her unchasteness and on account of the murder of his son. For after she had been led into an exceedingly hot bath, there she violently ended her life.Blindado
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218aElagabalus 218-22 AD
Rabbath Moba (Arsapolis)
AE 21mm
AV KAICAP A[.........]
Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
APCA[ΠOΛIC]
Poseidon standing left with foot raised holding dolphin and trident
Spijkerman 37
mauseus
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501. Constantine I Ostia SolOstia
Although Ostia was probably founded for the sole purpose of military defence — since through the Tiber's mouths armies could eventually reach Rome by water — in time the port became a commercial harbour, and a very important one too. Many of the goods that Rome received from its colonies and provinces passed through Ostia. In this role, Ostia soon replaced Pozzuoli (Puteoli, near Naples).
In 87 BC, the town was razed by Marius, and again in 67 BC it was sacked by pirates. After this second attack, the town was re-built and provided with protective walls by Cicero. The town was then further developed during the 1st century AD, mainly under the influence of Tiberius, who ordered the building of the first Forum. The town was also soon enriched by the construction of a new harbour on the northern mouths of the Tiber (which reaches the sea with a larger mouth in Ostia, Fiumara Grande, and a narrower one near to the current Fiumicino international airport). The new harbour, not surprisingly called Portus, was excavated from the ground at the orders of the emperor Claudius; it has an hexagonal form, in order to reduce the waves strength. The town was provided with all the services a town of the time could require; in particular, a famous lighthouse. Archaeologists also discovered the public latrinas, organised for collective use as a series of seats that lets us imagine today that the function was also a social moment. In addition, Ostia had a large theatre, public baths and a fire fighting service. You can still see the mosaic floors of the baths near today's entrance to the town.
Trajan too, required a widening of the naval areas, and ordered the building of another harbour, again pointing towards the north. It must be remembered that at a relatively short distance, there was also the harbour of Civitavecchia (Centum Cellae), and Rome was starting to have a significant number of harbours, the most important remaining Portus.
Ostia grew to 50,000 inhabitants in the 2nd century AD and in time focused its naval activities on Portus. With the end of the Roman Empire, Ostia fell slowly into decay, and was finally abandoned in the 9th century due to the fall of the Roman empire in combination with repeated invasions and sackings by Arab pirates; the inhabitants moved to Gregoriopolis. In the Middle Ages, bricks from buildings in Ostia were used for several other occasions. The Leaning Tower of Pisa was entirely built of material originally belonging to Ostia. A "local sacking" was carried out by baroque architects, who used the remains as a sort of marble store for the palazzi they were building in Rome. Soon after, foreign explorers came in search of ancient statues and objects. The Papacy started organising its own investigations with Pope Pius VII and the research still continues today. It has been estimated that two thirds of the ancient town have currently been found.
001. Constantine I Ostia
RIC VI Ostia 85 S
ecoli
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501. CONSTANTINE I Siscia SOLI INVICTO COMITSol Invictus ("the undefeated Sun") or, more fully, Deus Sol Invictus ("the undefeated sun god") was a religious title applied to three distinct divinities during the later Roman Empire, El Gabal, Mithras, and Sol.
Unlike the earlier, agrarian cult of Sol Indiges ("the native sun" or "the invoked sun" - the etymology and meaning of the word "indiges" is disputed), the title Deus Sol Invictus was formed by analogy with the imperial titulature pius felix invictus ("dutiful, fortunate, unconquered").
A festival of the birth of the Unconquered Sun (or Dies Natalis Solis Invicti) was celebrated when the duration of daylight first begins to increase after the winter solstice,—the "rebirth" of the sun.
Christianity adopted some of the attributes of the Sol Invictus religion, as apparent in the first examples of Christian iconography, depicting Christ with solar attributes such as the radiated crown or, in a few instances, a solar chariot.
Sol Invictus had been adopted by the Church of Rome as evidenced by Christ as Apollo-Helios in a mausoleum discovered under St. Peter's Basilica and dated to 250[1], and, from the beginning of the third century, "Sun of Justice" was used as a title of Christ[2].
The date for Christmas may also bear a relation to the sun worship. According to the Syriac bishop Jacob Bar-Salibi, writing in the twelth century:
"It was a custom of the Pagans to celebrate on the same 25 December the birthday of the Sun, at which they kindled lights in token of festivity. In these solemnities and revelries the Christians also took part. Accordingly when the doctors of the Church perceived that the Christians had a leaning to this festival, they took counsel and resolved that the true Nativity should be solemnised on that day." (cited in "Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries", Ramsay MacMullen. Yale:1997, p155])
Christianity designated Sunday as the "Lord's Day" and the day of rest, rather than Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath.
CONSTANTINE I
RIC VII Siscia 32 R3
ecoli
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501b. Crispus BEATA TrierTrier
The Romans under Julius Caesar subdued the Celtic Treverans in 58 to 50 BC. When the Roman provinces in Germany were reorganised in 16 BC, Augustus decided that Trier, then called Augusta Treverorum, should become the regional capital. From 259 to 274 Trier was the capital of the break away Gallic Empire. Later for a few years (383 - 388) it was the capital of Magnus Maximus, who ruled most of the western Empire.
The ruins of the Roman baths.Sacked by Attila in 451, it passed to the Franks in 463, to Lorraine in 843, to Germany in 870, and back to Lorraine in 895, and was finally united to Germany by Henry I the Fowler. The Archbishop of Trier was, as chancellor of Burgundy, one of the electors of the empire, a right which originated in the 12th or 13th century, and which continued until the French Revolution. The last elector removed to Koblenz in 1786; and Trier was the capital of the French department of Sarre from 1794 till 1814, after which time it belonged to Prussia.
RIC VII Trier 308
ecoli
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501b. Crispus Ticinum VOTATicinum
Ticinum (the modern Pavia) was an ancient city of Gallia Transpadana, founded on the banks of the river of the same name (now the Ticino river) a little way above its confluence with the Padus (Po).
It is said by Pliny to have been founded by the Laevi and Marici, two Ligurian tribes, while Ptolemy attributes it to the Insubres.
Its importance in Roman times was due to the extension of the Via Aemilia from Ariminum (Rimini) to the Padus (187 BC), which it crossed at Placentia (Piacenza) and there forked, one branch going to Mediolanum (Milan) and the other to Ticinum, and thence to Laumellum where it divided once more, one branch going to Vercellae - and thence to Eporedia and Augusta Praetoria - and the other to Valentia - and thence to Augusta Taurinorum (Turin) or to Pollentia.
The branch to Eporedia must have been constructed before 100 BC. Ticinum is not infrequently mentioned by classical writers. It was a municipium, and from an inscription we know that a triumphal arch was erected in honor of Augustus and his family, but we learn little of it except that in the 4th century AD there was a manufacture of bows there.
It was pillaged by Attila in AD 452 and by Odoacer in 476, but rose to importance as a military centre in the Gothic period. At Dertona and here the grain stores of Liguria were placed, and Theodoric the Great constructed a palace, baths and amphitheatre and new town walls; while an inscription of Athalaric relating to repairs of seats in the amphitheatre is preserved (AD 528‑529). From this point, too, navigation on the Padus seems to have begun. Narses recovered it for the Eastern Empire, but after a long siege, the garrison had to surrender to the Lombards in 572.
001b. Crispus Ticinum
RIC VII Ticinum 153 R3
ecoli
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604. Leo IImperator Caesar Flavius Valerius Leo Augustus or Leo I of the Byzantine Empire (401–474), reigned from 457 to 474, also known as Leo the Thracian, was the last of a series of emperors placed on the throne by Aspar, the Alan serving as commander-in-chief of the army. His coronation as emperor on February 7, 457, was the first known to involve the Patriarch of Constantinople. Leo I made an alliance with the Isaurians and was thus able to eliminate Aspar. The price of the alliance was the marriage of Leo's daughter to Tarasicodissa, leader of the Isaurians who, as Zeno, became emperor in 474.
During Leo's reign, the Balkans were ravaged time and again by the West Goths and the Huns. However, these attackers were unable to take Constantinople thanks to the walls which had been rebuilt and reinforced in the reign of Theodosius II and against which they possessed no suitable siege engines.
Leo's reign was also noteworthy for his influence in the Western Roman Empire, marked by his appointment of Anthemius as Western Roman Emperor in 467. He attempted to build on this political achievement with an expedition against the Vandals in 468, which was defeated due to the treachery and incompetence of Leo's brother-in-law Basiliscus. This disaster drained the Empire of men and money.
Leo's greatest influence in the West was largely inadvertent and at second-hand: the great Goth king Theodoric the Great was raised at the Leo's court in Constantinople, where he was steeped in Roman government and military tactics, which served him well when he returned after Leo's death to become the Goth ruler of a mixed but largely Romanized people.
Leo also published a New Constitutions or compilation of Law Code[1], Constitution LV concerned Judaism: "JEWS SHALL LIVE IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE RITES OF CHRISTIANITY. Those who formerly were invested with Imperial authority promulgated various laws with reference to the Hebrew people, who, once nourished by Divine protection, became renowned, but are now remarkable for the calamities inflicted upon them because of their contumacy towards Christ and God; and these laws, while regulating their mode of life, compelled them to read the Holy Scriptures, and ordered them not to depart from the ceremonies of their worship. They also provided that their children should adhere to their religion, being obliged to do so as well by the ties of blood, as on account of the institution of circumcision. These are the laws which I have already stated were formerly enforced throughout the Empire. But the Most Holy Sovereign from whom We are descended, more concerned than his predecessors for the salvation of the Jews, instead of allowing them (as they did) to obey only their ancient laws, attempted, by the interpretation of prophesies and the conclusions which he drew from them, to convert them to the Christian religion, by means of the vivifying water of baptism. He fully succeeded in his attempts to transform them into new men, according to the doctrine of Christ, and induced them to denounce their ancient doctrines and abandon their religious ceremonies, such as circumcision, the observance of the Sabbath, and all their other rites. But although he, to a certain extent, overcame the obstinacy of the Jews, he was unable to force them to abolish the laws which permitted them to live in accordance with their ancient customs. Therefore We, desiring to accomplish what Our Father failed to effect, do hereby annul all the old laws enacted with reference to the Hebrews, and We order that they shall not dare to live in any other manner than in accordance with the rules established by the pure and salutary Christian Faith. And if anyone of them should be proved to, have neglected to observe the ceremonies of the Christian religion, and to have returned to his former practices, he shall pay the penalty prescribed by the law for apostates."
Leo died of dysentery at the age of 73 on January 18, 474.
Bronze AE4, RIC 671, S 4340 var, VG, 1.17g, 10.3mm, 180o, Alexandria mint, obverse D N LEO P F AVG (or similar), pearl diademed, draped and cuirassed bust right; reverse Lion standing left, head right, cross above, ALEA in ex; very rare (R3); ex Forumecoli
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69b. Oliver Cromwell medal.Obverse: KIRK FEC / Laureate bust, left.
Reverse: OLIVAR CROMWELL 1658
5.92 gm., 25 mm.
Sentimental Magazine medal by John Kirk (1724-1776):
Issued as “promotional give-aways,” 13 different medals were produced in 1773-1774 for Sentimental Magazine [London]. This medal came with the October 1773 issue of the magazine.
From the Bath Journal, Monday, March 29, 1773:
A NEW MAGAZINE, With every Number of which will be given a curious MEDAL, struck on fine Metal, about the Size and Weight of a Guinea, executed by Mr. KIRKE, who is universally esteemed the First Artist in London in his Profession. This Medal will of itself, exclusive of the Magazine, be Worth at least Half-a-Crown; it will represent some reigning Toast, some Great Personage, some Hero celebrated in the Annals of our own Kingdom, or in those of the Continent, some Patriot, or some uncommon literary Genius. Callimachus
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703b, Tiberius, 19 August 14 - 16 March 37 A.D., Hierapolis, PhrygiaBronze AE 16, RPC I 2966 (1 specimen), F, Phrygia, Hierapolis, 3.300g, 15.6mm, 0o; Obverse: TIBEPIOC KAISAR, laureate head right; Reverse: IERAPOLEITWN ZOSIMOS [...], Apollo Archegetes (Lairbenos) standing left, playing lyre; reverse countermarked with star of six rays, in oval punch, 2.5 x 3.5 mm, Howgego 445 (3 pcs, 1 of which from this magistrate); dark patina; very rare. Ex FORVM.
De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families
TIBERIUS (A.D. 14-37)
Garrett G. Fagan
Pennsylvania State University
The reign of Tiberius Claudius Nero (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. His reign abounds in contradictions. Despite his keen intelligence, he allowed himself to come under the influence of unscrupulous men who, as much as any actions of his own, ensured that Tiberius's posthumous reputation would be unfavorable; despite his vast military experience, he oversaw the conquest of no new region for the empire; and despite his administrative abilities he showed such reluctance in running the state as to retire entirely from Rome and live out his last years in isolation on the island of Capri. His reign represents, as it were, the adolescence of the Principate as an institution. Like any adolescence, it proved a difficult time.
. . . .
It is all but inevitable that any historical assessment of Tiberius will quickly devolve into a historiographical assessment of Tacitus. So masterful is Tacitus's portrayal of his subject, and so influential has it been ever since, that in all modern treatments of Tiberius, in attempting to get at the man, must address the issue of Tacitus's historiographical methods, his sources, and his rhetoric. The subject is too vast to address here, but some points are salient. Tacitus's methods, especially his use of innuendo and inference to convey notions that are essentially editorial glosses, makes taking his portrayal of Tiberius at face value inadvisable. Further, his belief in the immutable character of people -- that one's character is innate at birth and cannot be changed, although it can be disguised -- prevents him from investigating the possibility that Tiberius evolved and developed over his lifetime and during his reign. Instead, Tacitus's portrayal is one of peeling back layers of dissimulation to reach the "real" Tiberius lurking underneath.
Overall, Tiberius's reign can be said to show the boons and banes of rule by one man, especially a man as dark, awkward, and isolated as Tiberius. For the people of the provinces, it was a peaceful and well-ordered time. Governors behaved themselves, and there were no destructive or expensive wars. In the domestic sphere, however, the concentration of power in one person made all the greater the threat of misbehavior by ambitious satellites like Sejanus or foolish friends like Piso. Furthermore, if the emperor wished to remain aloof from the mechanics of power, he could do so. Administrators, who depended on him for their directions, could operate without his immediate supervision, but their dealings with a man like Sejanus could lead to disaster if that man fell from grace. As a result, although he was not a tyrant himself, 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 complete article please refer to http://www.roman-emperors.org/tiberius.htm]
By Garrett G. Fagan, Pennsylvania State University.
Published: De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families http://www.roman-emperors.org/startup.htm. Used by permission.
Hierapolis in History
Usually said to be founded by Eumenes II, king of Pergamum (197-159 BC), Hierapolis may actually have been established closer to the 4th century BC by the Seleucid kings.
The name of the city may derive from Hiera, the wife of Telephus (son of Hercules and grandson of Zeus), the mythical founder of Pergamum. Or it may have been called the "sacred city" because of the temples located at the site. (The name Pamukkale is sometimes used just to refer to the white terraces, but the modern name of the whole area is also Pamukkale.)
With Colossae and Laodicea, Hierapolis became part of the tri-city area of the Lycus River valley. Hierapolis was located across the river from the other two cities and was noted for its textiles, especially wool. The city was also famous for its purple dye, made from the juice of the madder root.
The hot springs at Hierapolis (which still attract visitors today) were believed to have healing properties, and people came to the city to bathe in the rich mineral waters in order to cure various ailments.
Hierapolis was dedicated to Apollo Lairbenos, who was said to have founded the city. The Temple of Apollo that survives in ruins today dates from the 3rd century AD, but its foundations date from the Hellenistic period.
Also worshipped at Hierapolis was Pluto, god of the underworld, probably in relation to the hot gases released by the earth (see the Plutonium, below). The chief religious festival of ancient Hierapolis was the Letoia, in honor of the the goddess Leto, a Greek form of the Mother Goddess. The goddess was honoured with orgiastic rites.
Hierapolis was ceded to Rome in 133 BC along with the rest of the Pergamene kingdom, and became part of the Roman province of Asia. The city was destroyed by an earthquake in 60 AD but rebuilt, and it reached its peak in the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD.
Famous natives of Hierapolis include the Stoic philosopher Epictetus (c.55-c.135 AD) and the philosopher and rhetorician Antipater. Emperor Septimus hired Antipater to tutor his sons Caracalla and Geta, who became emperors themselves.
Hierapolis had a significant Jewish population in ancient times, as evidence by numerous inscriptions on tombs and elsewhere in the city. Some of the Jews are named as members of the various craft guilds of the city. This was probably the basis for the Christian conversion of some residents of Hierapolis, recorded in Colossians 4:13.
In the 5th century, several churches as well as a large martyrium dedicated to St. Philip (see "In the Bible," below) were built in Hierapolis. The city fell into decline in the 6th century, and the site became partially submerged under water and deposits of travertine. It was finally abandoned in 1334 after an earthquake. Excavations began to uncover Hierapolis in the 19th century.
Hierapolis in the Bible
Hierapolis is mentioned only once in the Bible, when St. Paul praises Epaphras, a Christian from Colossae, in his letter to the Colossians. Paul writes that Epaphras "has worked hard for you and for those in Laodicea and in Hierapolis" (Colossians 4:12-13). Epaphras was probably the founder of the Christian community at Hierapolis.
Ancient tradition also associates Hierapolis with a biblical figure, reporting that Philip died in Hierapolis around 80 AD. However, it is not clear which Philip is menat. It could be Philip the Apostle, one of the original 12 disciples, who is said to have been martyred by upside-down crucifixion (Acts of Philip) or by being hung upside down by his ankles from a tree.
Or Philip could be Philip the Evangelist, a later disciple who helped with administrative matters and had four virgin-prophetess daughters (Acts 6:1-7; 21:8-9). Early traditions say this Philip was buried in Hierapolis along with his virgin daughters, but confusingly call him "Philip the Apostle"! In any case, it seems a prominent person mentioned in Acts did die in Hierapolis.
Sacred Destinations - Hierapolis-Pamukkale
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.Cleisthenes
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711a, Titus, 24 June 79 - 13 September 81 A.D. TITUS AUGUSTUS AR silver denarius. Struck at Rome, 80 AD. IMP TITVS CAESAR VESPASIAN AVG PM, laureate head right. Reverse - TRP IX IMP XV COS VIII PP, elephant walking left. Fully legible legends, about Very Fine, nice golden toning. Commemmorates the completion and dedication of the Colosseum and the opening of games. SCARCE. RCV 2512, valued at $544 in EF. 17mm, 3.1g. Ex Incitatus.
De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families
Titus Flavius Vespasianus (A.D. 79-81)
John Donahue
College of William and Mary
Titus Flavius Vespasianus was born on December 30, 39 A.D. He was the oldest of the three children of the founder of the Flavian Dynasty, Vespasian. Beginning in the year 70 Titus was named Cæsar and coregent; he was highly educated and a brilliant poet and orator in both Latin and Greek. He won military fame during the Jewish Revolt of 69-70. In April, 70, he appeared before the walls of Jerusalem, and conquered and destroyed the city after a siege of five months. He wished to preserve the Temple, but in the struggle with the Jews who rushed out of it a soldier threw a brand into the building. The siege and taking of the city were accompanied by barbarous cruelties. The next year Titus celebrated his victory by a triumph; to increase the fame of the Flavian dynasty the inscription on the triumphal arch represented the overthrow of the helpless people as a heroic achievement. Titus succeeded his father as Emperor in 79.
Before becoming emperor, tradition records that Titus was feared as the next Nero, a perception that may have developed from his association with Berenice, his alleged heavy-handedness as praetorian prefect, and tales of sexual debauchery. Once in office, however, both emperor and his reign were portrayed in universally positive terms. The suddenness of this transformation raises immediate suspicions, yet it is difficult to know whether the historical tradition is suspect or if Titus was in fact adept at taking off one mask for another. What is clear, however, is that Titus sought to present the Flavians as the legitimate successors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Proof came through the issuing of a series of restoration coins of previous emperors, the most popular being Augustus and Claudius. In A.D. 80 Titus also set out to establish an imperial cult in honor of Vespasian. The temple, in which cult (the first that was not connected with the Julio-Claudians) was housed, was completed by Domitian and was known as the Temple of Vespasian and Domitian.
Legitimacy was also sought through various economic measures, which Titus enthusiastically funded. Vast amounts of capital poured into extensive building schemes in Rome, especially the Flavian Amphitheater, popularly known as the Colosseum. In celebration of additions made to the structure, Titus provided a grand 100-day festival, with sea fights staged on an artificial lake, infantry battles, wild beast hunts, and similar activities. He also constructed new imperial baths to the south-east of the Amphitheater and began work on the celebrated Arch of Titus, a memorial to his Jewish victories. Large sums were directed to Italy and the provinces as well, especially for road building. In response to the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79, Titus spent large sums to relieve distress in that area; likewise, the imperial purse contributed heavily to rebuilding Rome after a devastating fire destroyed large sections of the city in A.D. 80. As a result of these actions, Titus earned a reputation for generosity and geniality. For these reasons he gained the honourable title of "amor et deliciæ generis humani" (the darling and admiration of the human race). Even so, his financial acumen must not be under-estimated. He left the treasury with a surplus, as he had found it, and dealt promptly and efficiently with costly natural disasters. The Greek historian of the third-century A.D., Cassius Dio, perhaps offered the most accurate and succinct assessment of Titus' economic policy: "In money matters, Titus was frugal and made no unnecessary expenditure." In other areas, the brevity of Titus' reign limits our ability to detect major emphases or trends in policy. As far as can be discerned from the limited evidence, senior officials and amici were well chosen, and his legislative activity tended to focus on popular social measures, with the army as a particular beneficiary in the areas of land ownership, marriage, and testamentary freedom. In the provinces, Titus continued his father's policies by strengthening roads and forts in the East and along the Danube.
Titus died in September, A.D. 81 after only 26 months in office. Suetonius recorded that Titus died on his way to the Sabine country of his ancestors in the same villa as his father. A competing tradition persistently implicated his brother and successor, Domitian, as having had a hand in the emperor's demise, but the evidence is highly contradictory and any wrongdoing is difficult to prove. Domitian himself delivered the funeral eulogy and had Titus deified. He also built several monuments in honor of Titus and completed the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, changing the name of the structure to include his brother's and setting up his cult statue in the Temple itself.
Titus was the beneficiary of considerable intelligence and talent, endowments that were carefully cultivated at every step of his career, from his early education to his role under his father's principate. Cassius Dio suggested that Titus' reputation was enhanced by his early death. It is true that the ancient sources tend to heroicize Titus, yet based upon the evidence, his reign must be considered a positive one. He capably continued the work of his father in establishing the Flavian Dynasty and he maintained a high degree of economic and administrative competence in Italy and beyond. In so doing, he solidified the role of the emperor as paternalistic autocrat, a model that would serve Trajan and his successors well. Titus was used as a model by later emperors, especially those known as the Five Good Emperors (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius).
Copyright (C) 1997, John Donahue.
Published: De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families http://www.roman-emperors.org/startup.htm. Used by permission.
Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14746b.htm
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.Cleisthenes
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711a, Titus, 24 June 79 - 13 September 81 A.D.Titus, 24 June 79 - 13 September 81 A.D. AR denarius, RCV 2512, aVF, struck at Rome, 80 A.D., 17.5mm, 3.4g. Obverse: IMP TITVS CAESAR VESPASIAN AVG PM, laureate head right; Reverse: TRP IX IMP XV COS VIII PP, elephant walking left. Fully legible legends; nice golden toning. This coin was struck in order to commemorate the completion and dedication of the Flavian Amphitheatre (the Colosseum) and its opening games. Very scarce. Ex Incitatus; photo courtesy Incitatus.
De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families
Titus Flavius Vespasianus (A.D. 79-81)
John Donahue
College of William and Mary
Titus Flavius Vespasianus was born on December 30, 39 A.D. He was the oldest of the three children of the founder of the Flavian Dynasty, Vespasian. Beginning in the year 70 Titus was named Cæsar and coregent; he was highly educated and a brilliant poet and orator in both Latin and Greek. He won military fame during the Jewish Revolt of 69-70. In April, 70, he appeared before the walls of Jerusalem, and conquered and destroyed the city after a siege of five months. He wished to preserve the Temple, but in the struggle with the Jews who rushed out of it a soldier threw a brand into the building. The siege and taking of the city were accompanied by barbarous cruelties. The next year Titus celebrated his victory by a triumph; to increase the fame of the Flavian dynasty the inscription on the triumphal arch represented the overthrow of the helpless people as a heroic achievement. Titus succeeded his father as Emperor in 79.
Before becoming emperor, tradition records that Titus was feared as the next Nero, a perception that may have developed from his association with Berenice, his alleged heavy-handedness as praetorian prefect, and tales of sexual debauchery. Once in office, however, both emperor and his reign were portrayed in universally positive terms. The suddenness of this transformation raises immediate suspicions, yet it is difficult to know whether the historical tradition is suspect or if Titus was in fact adept at taking off one mask for another. What is clear, however, is that Titus sought to present the Flavians as the legitimate successors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Proof came through the issuing of a series of restoration coins of previous emperors, the most popular being Augustus and Claudius. In A.D. 80 Titus also set out to establish an imperial cult in honor of Vespasian. The temple, in which cult (the first that was not connected with the Julio-Claudians) was housed, was completed by Domitian and was known as the Temple of Vespasian and Domitian.
Legitimacy was also sought through various economic measures, which Titus enthusiastically funded. Vast amounts of capital poured into extensive building schemes in Rome, especially the Flavian Amphitheater, popularly known as the Colosseum. In celebration of additions made to the structure, Titus provided a grand 100-day festival, with sea fights staged on an artificial lake, infantry battles, wild beast hunts, and similar activities. He also constructed new imperial baths to the south-east of the Amphitheater and began work on the celebrated Arch of Titus, a memorial to his Jewish victories. Large sums were directed to Italy and the provinces as well, especially for road building. In response to the eruption of Vesuvius in A.D. 79, Titus spent large sums to relieve distress in that area; likewise, the imperial purse contributed heavily to rebuilding Rome after a devastating fire destroyed large sections of the city in A.D. 80. As a result of these actions, Titus earned a reputation for generosity and geniality. For these reasons he gained the honourable title of "amor et deliciæ generis humani" (the darling and admiration of the human race). Even so, his financial acumen must not be under-estimated. He left the treasury with a surplus, as he had found it, and dealt promptly and efficiently with costly natural disasters. The Greek historian of the third-century A.D., Cassius Dio, perhaps offered the most accurate and succinct assessment of Titus' economic policy: "In money matters, Titus was frugal and made no unnecessary expenditure." In other areas, the brevity of Titus' reign limits our ability to detect major emphases or trends in policy. As far as can be discerned from the limited evidence, senior officials and amici were well chosen, and his legislative activity tended to focus on popular social measures, with the army as a particular beneficiary in the areas of land ownership, marriage, and testamentary freedom. In the provinces, Titus continued his father's policies by strengthening roads and forts in the East and along the Danube.
Titus died in September, A.D. 81 after only 26 months in office. Suetonius recorded that Titus died on his way to the Sabine country of his ancestors in the same villa as his father. A competing tradition persistently implicated his brother and successor, Domitian, as having had a hand in the emperor's demise, but the evidence is highly contradictory and any wrongdoing is difficult to prove. Domitian himself delivered the funeral eulogy and had Titus deified. He also built several monuments in honor of Titus and completed the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, changing the name of the structure to include his brother's and setting up his cult statue in the Temple itself.
Titus was the beneficiary of considerable intelligence and talent, endowments that were carefully cultivated at every step of his career, from his early education to his role under his father's principate. Cassius Dio suggested that Titus' reputation was enhanced by his early death. It is true that the ancient sources tend to heroicize Titus, yet based upon the evidence, his reign must be considered a positive one. He capably continued the work of his father in establishing the Flavian Dynasty and he maintained a high degree of economic and administrative competence in Italy and beyond. In so doing, he solidified the role of the emperor as paternalistic autocrat, a model that would serve Trajan and his successors well. Titus was used as a model by later emperors, especially those known as the Five Good Emperors (Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius and Marcus Aurelius).
Copyright (C) 1997, John Donahue.
Published: De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Rulers and their Families http://www.roman-emperors.org/startup.htm. Used by permission.
Catholic Encyclopedia, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14746b.htm
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.Cleisthenes
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AE 22mm Syria, Decapolis, Gadara. Faustina II, wife of Marcus Aurelius. Augusta, 147-175 AD. AE 22mm (7.89 gm, 12h). Dated CY 225. 161/2 AD. Spijkerman 49 (same dies)Syria, Decapolis, Gadara. Faustina II, wife of Marcus Aurelius. Augusta, 147-175 AD. AE 22mm (7.89 gm, 12h). Dated CY 225. 161/2 AD. Obv.: ΦAVCTINA CЄBATH, draped bust right. Rev.: ΓAΔAPЄΩN• ЄKC (date), laureate and draped bust of Zeus right. Spijkerman 49 (same dies); Rosenberger IV 51 (same dies); SNG ANS 1312-3 (same dies). _2560Antonivs Protti
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Ancient ruins of imperial Baths of ConstantineGermany Trier 50 Pfennig, 1919.
26mm, 5.84 gm, steel.Ancient Aussie
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AphroditeMarble statue of a naked Aphrodite crouching at her bathBacchus
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Arabia Petraea, Rabbathmoba. Septimius Severus AE28.Obv: AVT KAI L CE[P CEOVP CE]B, laureate head right.
Rev: RABBAQ M W NA.., cult statue of Ares(Greek god of war), standing facing, holding spear, shield, and sword, set upon basis set on plinth.
28mm, 9.9gms.ancientone
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Arizona - Coopers HawkCoopers Hawk cooling his feet in the birdbath.
Right out in front of my kitchen window too, all the shots are taken through the glass window, but still look great.rexesq
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Arizona - Coopers HawkCoopers Hawk cooling his feet in the birdbath.rexesq
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Arizona - Coopers HawkCoopers Hawk cooling his feet in the birdbath.rexesq
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Arizona - Coopers HawkCoopers Hawk cooling his feet in the birdbath.rexesq
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Arizona - Coopers HawkCoopers Hawk cooling his feet in the birdbath.rexesq
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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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Bad Weixdorf-Lausa Brown Porcelain City: Bad Weixdorf-Lausa
State: Saxony
Denomination: 2 Marks (brown porcelain)
Obverse: Denomination within a double lined diamond with two crossed swords.
Reverse: Art Deco androgynous figure in the natural spa baths outside Weixdorf, Germany.
Date: 1921
Grade: Unc.
Catalog #:
Matt Inglima
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, Bust of Sullis MinervaDisplayed in the Baths.
This is a wonderful gilt bronze head of Sullis Minerva and is probably from the cult statue of the deity which would have stood within her Temple beside the Sacred Spring. Found in A.D. 1727.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, CoinsThis Billon Tetradrachm of Elegabalus from Antioch, found at the baths, is a long way from home.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, CoinsFour Dupondii of Nero found at the Baths.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, East BathsThe east baths have had false walls erected to show floor level and to try and differentiate between usage areas.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, East BathsMore from the east baths.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, Head of LadyDisplayed in the Baths.
This large sculture of the head of a lady was found in Walcot in A.D. 1715. This colossal head (much larger than life) may well have adorned a tomb. The hairstyle belongs to the late 1st Century.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, Head of Lady (View of hair detail)Displayed in the Baths.
This large sculture of the head of a lady was found in Walcot in A.D. 1715. This colossal head (much larger than life) may well have adorned a tomb. The hairstyle belongs to the late 1st Century. Shown from the rear to illustrate the detail of the hair.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, LunaDisplayed in the Baths.
This carving of the goddess Luna, seen holding a whip, formed part of a pediment which would have faced across the Sacred Spring at another pediment containing Sol. maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, Minerva TabletDisplayed in the Baths.
A stone carved tablet, found in the baths, showing the goddess Minerva with a Gorgon mask across her stomach.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, MosaicDisplayed in the Baths.
This wonderful mosaic is one of many fascinating exhibits dotted around the museum.
maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, Sacred SpringAt the heart of the bath comples is the Sacred Spring, in which hot (about 46 degrees C), mineral rich water rises at the rate of over 1 million litres a day as it has done since before being descovered by the Romans and then harnessed to form the centre of this complex.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, Sacred Spring (Overflow)Here we see the overflow from the Sacred Spring which takes the water not used in the bath complex through a Roman drain system to the river some 400 yards away.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, The Great PoolThe Great pool complex seen from ground level.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, The Great PoolThe great pool as is shown by so many people with the camera close to the water level. A bit twee but is does look nice!maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, The TempleThe Temple at Bath is one of only two truly classical temples known from Roman Britain. It was where the the cult statue of the goddess Sulis Minerva was thought to have been housed. Parts of the ornamental pediment survives and are displayed in the Baths Museum.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, The TempleAt the heart of the pediment is this astonishing carved head, thought to be the head of a Gorgon.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, The TempleAn illustration of what the completed Pediment may have looked like.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, The TerraceThis is the Terrace overlooking the Great Bath at the baths. The baths themselves are far more extensive than can be seen from above ground and extend under the modern city. The statuary that line the Terrace date to 1894 and depict "Roman Governors of Britain". The Baths themselves were opened to the public in 1897.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, The TerraceThis is the Terrace overlooking the Great Bath at the baths. The baths themselves are far more extensive than can be seen from above ground and extend under the modern city. The statuary that line the Terrace date to 1894 and depict "Roman Governors of Britain". The Baths themselves were opened to the public in 1897. maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, The TerraceThis is the Terrace overlooking the Great Bath at the baths. The baths themselves are far more extensive than can be seen from above ground and extend under the modern city. The statuary that line the Terrace date to 1894 and depict "Roman Governors of Britain". The Baths themselves were opened to the public in 1897. maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, The TerraceThis is the Terrace overlooking the Great Bath at the baths. The baths themselves are far more extensive than can be seen from above ground and extend under the modern city. The statuary that line the Terrace date to 1894 and depict "Roman Governors of Britain". The Baths themselves were opened to the public in 1897. maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, The TerraceThis is the Terrace overlooking the Great Bath at the baths. The baths themselves are far more extensive than can be seen from above ground and extend under the modern city. The statuary that line the Terrace date to 1894 and depict "Roman Governors of Britain". The Baths themselves were opened to the public in 1897. maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, West BathsThe cold plunge pool from the west baths.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, West BathsAnd another pool in the west baths.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, West Baths hypocaust pilaeThese well preserved hypocaust pilae from the west baths illustrate how the heating of rooms was achieved.maridvnvm
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Britain, Bath, Aquae Sulis, Wooden reconstructionDisplayed in the Baths.
This wooden reconstruction attempts to give an idea of the size and layout of the original temple and bath complex.maridvnvm
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Britain, Chedworth Villa, 09, Bath complex, Changing room Chedworth Roman Villa, Yanworth, nr Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Gread Britain
One of the largest Roman villa sites found in the UK. Found and initially excavated by the Victorians. Still being excavated today maridvnvm
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Britain, Chedworth Villa, 10, Bath complex, Cold room Chedworth Roman Villa, Yanworth, nr Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Gread Britain
One of the largest Roman villa sites found in the UK. Found and initially excavated by the Victorians. Still being excavated today maridvnvm
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Britain, Chedworth Villa, 11, Bath complex, Warm roomChedworth Roman Villa, Yanworth, nr Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Gread Britain
One of the largest Roman villa sites found in the UK. Found and initially excavated by the Victorians. Still being excavated today maridvnvm
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Britain, Chedworth Villa, 13, Bath complex, Mosaic detailChedworth Roman Villa, Yanworth, nr Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Gread Britain
One of the largest Roman villa sites found in the UK. Found and initially excavated by the Victorians. Still being excavated today maridvnvm
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Bulgaria, Varna - Odessos, Thrace Roman BathsOdessus, Thrace, first included into the Roman Praefectura orae maritimae and then in 15 CE annexed to the province of Moesia (later Moesia Inferior), covered 47 hectares in present-day central Varna and had prominent public baths, Thermae, erected in the late 2nd century AD, now the largest Roman remains in Bulgaria (the building was 100 m (328.08 ft) wide, 70 m (229.66 ft) long, and 25 m (82.02 ft) high) and fourth-largest known Roman baths in Europe. Joe Sermarini
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Caracalla, AD 198-217AE30, 15.2g, 6h; Rabbathmoba, Palestine, dated CY 105 = AD 210-211.
Obv.: AVT K M AV ANTUNINOC, laureate, draped, cuirassed bust right.
Rev.: PABBAΘ-MUBUN, Ares standing facing on square base decorated with pilasters, and holding sword, spear and round shield. Lighted torch to left and right. Date P-E across fields.
Ref.: Spijkerman 27, Rosenberger 16. 16-190-65
John Anthony
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Caria, Aphrodisias, pseudo-autonomous, MacDonald 208Aphrodisias, pseudo-autonomous, ca. 250-255
AE 21, 5.16g, 20.81mm, 90°
struck at the time of Valerian-Gallienus
Obv.: IERA - BOVLH (from left below)
Bust of Boule, draped and veiled, r.
Rev.: AFRODEICI - EWN
Aphrodite r., nude, leaning on small column, holding mirror and
adjusting her sandals, aided by small Eros on her right, looking l.
Ref: MacDonald 208 (O249/R460); Martin 71; Bernhart 313; SNG by Aulock 2448;
SNG Copenhagen 84; SNG Lewis 1642; BMC 35f.
very rare in trade, F+
The reverse depiction is based on a famous Hellenistic original of the "Sandal loosening Venus". Aphrodite is preparing for the bath.Jochen
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Carlos II - 1692Valencia mint (Spain)
1692
Silver with a gold bath
Ex. Vico auction, 2013.
http://dieciochenos.wordpress.com/2013/12/12/carlos-ii-1692-recubrimiento-dorado/
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City of Constantinople Commemorative, 330 - 333 A.D.Bronze AE 3, RIC 63, VF, Constantinople, 2.524g, 18.5mm, 0o, 330 - 333 A.D.; Obverse: CONSTAN-TINOPOLI, Constantinopolis' helmeted bust left in imperial cloak and holding scepter across left shoulder; Reverse: Victory standing left, right foot on prow, scepter in right, resting left on grounded shield, CONSZ in exergue; nice style. Ex FORVM.
Constantinople Commemoratives minted by the actual city of Constantinople mint are much scarcer than those minted by other Eastern mints.
The village that was to become the site of Byzantium/Constantinople/Istambul was founded c. 658 B. C. by a Greek colony from Megara; the site was then occupied by the Thracian village of Lygos. The chief of the Megarian expedition was Byzas, after whom the city was naturally called Byzantion (Lat. Byzantium). Despite its perfect situation, the colony did not prosper at first; it suffered much during the Medic wars, chiefly from the satraps of Darius and Xerxes. Later on, its control was disputed by Lacedæmonians and Athenians; for two years (341-339 B. C.) it held out against Philip of Macedon. It succeeded in maintaining its independence even against victorious Rome, was granted the title and rights of an allied city, and its ambassadors were accorded at Rome the same honours as those given to allied kings; it enjoyed, moreover, all transit duties on the Bosporus. Cicero defended it in the Roman Senate, and put an end to the exactions of Piso.
The city continued prosperous to the reign of Septimius Severus, when it sided with his rival, Pescennius Niger. After a siege of three years (193-196) Severus razed to the ground its walls and public monuments, and made it subject to Perinthus or Heraclea in Thrace. But he soon forgave this resistance, restored its former privileges, built there the baths of Zeuxippus, and began the hippodrome. It was devastated again by the soldiers of Gallienus in 262, but was rebuilt almost at once. In the long war between Constantine and Licinius (314-323) it embraced the fortunes of the latter, but, after his defeat at Chrysopolis (Scutari), submitted to the victor.
Constantine had chosen this city as the new capital of the Roman Empire, but owing to his wars and the needs of the State, he rarely resided there.
(The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IV; Copyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton Company;Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight).
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.Cleisthenes
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City of Constantinopolis Commemorative, 330-346 A.D. (Cyzikus)Constantinopolis City Commemorative, issued by CONSTANTINE THE GREAT AND HIS SONS, of the period AD 330-346, commemorating the transfer of the Seat of the Empire from Rome to Constantinople, AE3/4, aVF, Cyzikus. Obverse: CONSTAN-TINOPOLI, Constantinopolis wearing imperial mantle, holding inverted spear, laureate helmet, bust L.; Reverse: No legend; Victory stg. L., right foot on prow, holding scepter and leaning on shield; star?pellet?SMK pellet? in exergue.
The village that was to become the site of Byzantium/Constantinople/Istambul was founded c. 658 B. C. by a Greek colony from Megara; the site was then occupied by the Thracian village of Lygos. The chief of the Megarian expedition was Byzas, after whom the city was naturally called Byzantion (Lat. Byzantium). Despite its perfect situation, the colony did not prosper at first; it suffered much during the Medic wars, chiefly from the satraps of Darius and Xerxes. Later on, its control was disputed by Lacedæmonians and Athenians; for two years (341-339 B. C.) it held out against Philip of Macedon. It succeeded in maintaining its independence even against victorious Rome, was granted the title and rights of an allied city, and its ambassadors were accorded at Rome the same honours as those given to allied kings; it enjoyed, moreover, all transit duties on the Bosporus. Cicero defended it in the Roman Senate, and put an end to the exactions of Piso.
The city continued prosperous to the reign of Septimius Severus, when it sided with his rival, Pescennius Niger. After a siege of three years (193-196) Severus razed to the ground its walls and public monuments, and made it subject to Perinthus or Heraclea in Thrace. But he soon forgave this resistance, restored its former privileges, built there the baths of Zeuxippus, and began the hippodrome. It was devastated again by the soldiers of Gallienus in 262, but was rebuilt almost at once. In the long war between Constantine and Licinius (314-323) it embraced the fortunes of the latter, but, after his defeat at Chrysopolis (Scutari), submitted to the victor.
Constantine had chosen this city as the new capital of the Roman Empire, but owing to his wars and the needs of the State, he rarely resided there.
(The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume IV; Copyright © 1908 by Robert Appleton Company;Online Edition Copyright © 2003 by K. Knight).
Edited by J. P. Fitzgerald, Jr.Cleisthenes
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Constantine the Great, Early 307 - 22 May 337 A.D. , Manus Dei, the hand of God.Billon reduced centenionalis, RIC VIII Antioch 39; LRBC I 1374; SRCV V 17488; Voetter 34; Cohen VII 760; Hunter V p. 283, 4 ff. var. (officina), EF, glossy black patina, red earthen deposits, 1.821g, 15.0mm, 330o, 10th officina, Antioch (Antakya, Turkey) mint, posthumous, Sep 337 - 347 A.D.; obverse DV CONSTANTINVS PT AVGG, veiled bust right; reverse Constantine in quadriga right, veiled, the hand of God reaches down to take him to heaven; star above, SMANI in exergue.
FORVM Ancient Coins. /The Sam Mansourati Collection.
Soon after the Feast of Easter 337, Constantine fell seriously ill. He left Constantinople for the hot baths near his mother's city of Helenopolis. There, in a church his mother built in honor of Lucian the Apostle, he prayed, and there he realized that he was dying. He attempted to return to Constantinople, making it only as far as a suburb of Nicomedia. He summoned the bishops, and told them of his hope to be baptized in the River Jordan, where Christ was written to have been baptized. He requested the baptism right away, promising to live a more Christian life should he live through his illness. The bishops, Eusebius records, "performed the sacred ceremonies according to custom." It has been thought that Constantine put off baptism as long as he did so as to be absolved from as much of his sin as possible. Constantine died soon after at a suburban villa called Achyron, on 22 May 337.
Sam
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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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Croatia, Salona (Solin) - BathsSalona (Solin), Croatia - Baths. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solin,_CroatiaJoe Sermarini
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Dupondius; AQVA TRAIANA, RIC 464Trajan Æ Dupondius. IMP CAES NERVAE TRAIANO AVG GER DAC P M TR P COS V P P, radiate bust right with draped far shoulder / SPQR OPTIMO PRINCIPI S-C, River god reclining left in arched grotto, resting on urn & holding reed, AQVA TRAIANA in ex. Cohen 22, RIC 464, Hill 636. 9,4g 21,1mm. Trajan's aqueduct restored a small river that had disappeared and redirected its flow to Rome, where it fed his baths and greatly increased the capital's supply of fresh water. The aqueduct was dedicated in 109 and commemorated on coins beginning the following year. The design depicts the waterworks at the end of the aqueduct with the personification of the river reclining below. -There are reports that the actual rev scene has recently been rediscovered. Ex Ferenc GPodiceps
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Elagabalus - Rabbath-Moba218-222 AD
laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right
AV KECAP ANTWNINOC
Poseidon standing left, foot on prow, holding dolphin and trident
ϽIΛΟΠ_AϽꟼA
RPC VI, 9359 (temporary); Spijkerman 37; SNG ANS 1420.
8,5g 20mm
ex SavocaJ. B.
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England, Roman Baths, Bath (1)These celebrated Roman Baths were unknown until, in 1880, sewer workers uncovered the first glimpse of Roman structures under the Georgian Spa. This led to the discovery of the Roman Baths and their treasures.
The walls, columns and parapet that surround the Great Bath today were built in the Victorian period, and the "Roman" statues that gaze down upon the pool from the upper walkway are also Victorian.
This photograph was taken in the 19th century not long after the Baths were discovered and before the Victorian structures we see today were built.
*Alex
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England, Roman Baths, Bath (2)This is a Photochrome print of the Roman Baths, Bath, England taken sometime between 1895 and 1905.
It shows the new Victorian embellishments added to the Baths since their discovery in the 1880's and which, for the most part, are the works that visitors to the site see today.
The familiar green hue of the pool seen by modern visitors is caused by algae, resulting from the water's exposure to the open air. In Roman times the pool was roofed over and its waters, while perhaps not crystal clear, would almost certainly not have been green.
Photochrome prints are coloured images produced from black-and-white photographic negatives via the direct photographic transfer of a negative onto lithographic printing plates.
*Alex
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Farnese HerculesThe Farnese Hercules is one of the most famous ancient sculptures. It is a colossal copy made after a smaller Lysippos original, and intended to adorn the Baths of Caracalla. The sculpture was discovered and removed from the baths in 1546, entering the famous collection of Alessandro Farnese. It now resides in the museum of Naples.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Farnese_HerculesJoe Sermarini
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FAVSTINA AVGVSTA / AVGVSTI PII FIL / Ӕ As or Dupontius (156-161 A.D.)FAVSTINA AVGVSTA, draped bust right, hair arranged in a chignon (bun) behind the head / AVGVSTI PII FIL, Venus standing left holding Victory and leaning on shield set on a helmet, S-C across fields in the lower half
Ó”, 22.5-24+mm, 9.56g, die axis 11h
There may be a countermark across the front part of the face on obverse, but due to its location it is difficult to be sure and identify it.
AVGVSTI PII FIL(ia) = daughter of August Antoninus Pius, points out to the ruling of Fausta's father Antoninus Pius rather than her husband Marcus Aurelius. Reverse: Unlike Greek Aphrodite, in addition to her other aspects Roman Venus was also a goddess of victory, this embodied in her representation as Venus Victrix (Victorious) or Victris (of Victory), like in this case: she offers a little winged representation of victory, resting on defensive military attributes (as a female goddess, she represented passive, defensive aspects of war, active ones being the domain of male Mars). SC = [Ex] Senatus Consulto (Senatus is genitive, Consulto is ablative of Consultum) = by decree of the Senate, i. e. the authority of the Senate approved minting of this coin (necessary to justify issue of copper alloy coins for which the intrinsic value was not obvious).
Of two Ó” coins with the same legends and Venus with shield, RIC 1367 and 1389a, the first is a sestertius and its typical dimensions are characteristic of the type: 30+ mm and 20+g. This one is definitely smaller. Material seems reddish, so this one is more likely an as. Minted in Rome. Some sources give issue dates as 156-161 (the end of Faustina's father's reign), others as 145-146 (her marriage).
Annia Galeria Faustina Minor (Minor is Latin for the Younger), Faustina Minor or Faustina the Younger (born probably 21 September c. 130 CE, died in winter of 175 or spring of 176 CE) was a daughter of Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and Roman Empress Faustina the Elder. She was a Roman Empress and wife to her maternal cousin Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. She was held in high esteem by soldiers and her own husband and was given divine honours after her death. Faustina, named after her mother, was her parents' fourth and youngest child and their second daughter; she was also their only child to survive to adulthood. She was born and raised in Rome. Her great uncle, the emperor Hadrian, had arranged with her father for Faustina to marry Lucius Verus. On 25 February 138, she and Verus were betrothed. Verus’ father was Hadrian’s first adopted son and his intended heir; however, when Verus’ father died, Hadrian chose Faustina’s father to be his second adopted son, and eventually, successor. Faustina’s father ended the engagement between his daughter and Verus and arranged for Faustina's betrothal to her maternal cousin, Marcus Aurelius; Aurelius was also adopted by her father.
In April or May 145, Faustina and Marcus Aurelius were married, as had been planned since 138. Since Aurelius was, by adoption, Antoninus Pius' son, under Roman law he was marrying his sister; Antoninus would have had to formally release one or the other from his paternal authority (his patria potestas) for the ceremony to take place. Little is specifically known of the ceremony, but it is said to have been "noteworthy". Coins were issued with the heads of the couple, and Antoninus, as Pontifex Maximus, would have officiated. Marcus makes no apparent reference to the marriage in his surviving letters, and only sparing references to Faustina. Faustina was given the title of Augusta on 1 December 147 after the birth of her first child, Galeria Faustina (or Domitia? sources differ which of them was born in 147 and was the first child).
When Antoninus died on 7 March 161, Marcus and Lucius Verus ascended to the throne and became co-rulers. Faustina then became empress. Unfortunately, not much has survived from the Roman sources regarding Faustina's life, but what is available does not give a good report. Cassius Dio and the Augustan History accuse Faustina of ordering deaths by poison and execution; she has also been accused of instigating the revolt of Avidius Cassius against her husband. The Augustan History mentions adultery with sailors, gladiators, and men of rank; however, Faustina and Aurelius seem to have been very close and mutually devoted.
Faustina accompanied her husband on various military campaigns and enjoyed the love and reverence of Roman soldiers. Aurelius gave her the title of Mater Castrorum or ‘Mother of the Camp’. She attempted to make her home out of an army camp. Between 170–175, she was in the north, and in 175, she accompanied Aurelius to the east.
That same year, 175, Aurelius's general Avidius Cassius was proclaimed Roman emperor after the erroneous news of Marcus's death; the sources indicate Cassius was encouraged by Marcus's wife Faustina, who was concerned about her husband's failing health, believing him to be on the verge of death, and felt the need for Cassius to act as a protector in this event, since her son Commodus, aged 13, was still young. She also wanted someone who would act as a counterweight to the claims of Tiberius Claudius Pompeianus, who was in a strong position to take the office of Princeps in the event of Marcus’s death. The evidence, including Marcus's own Meditations, supports the idea that Marcus was indeed quite ill, but by the time Marcus recovered, Cassius was already fully acclaimed by the Egyptian legions of II Traiana Fortis and XXII Deiotariana. "After a dream of empire lasting three months and six days", Cassius was murdered by a centurion; his head was sent to Marcus Aurelius, who refused to see it and ordered it buried. Egypt recognized Marcus as emperor again by 28 July 175.
Faustina died in the winter of 175, after a somewhat suspicious accident, at the military camp in Halala (a city in the Taurus Mountains in Cappadocia). Aurelius grieved much for his wife and buried her in the Mausoleum of Hadrian in Rome. She was deified: her statue was placed in the Temple of Venus in Rome and a temple was dedicated to her in her honor. Halala’s name was changed to Faustinopolis and Aurelius opened charity schools for orphan girls called Puellae Faustinianae or 'Girls of Faustina'. The Baths of Faustina in Miletus are named after her.
In their thirty years of marriage, Faustina bore Marcus Aurelius thirteen children, of whom 6 reached adulthood and were significant in history. The best known are emperor Commodus and the closest to him sister Lucilla (both depicted in a very historically inaccurate movie "Gladiator" and, together with their parents, in a much more accurate 1st season "Reign of Blood" of the TV series "Roman Empire").Yurii P
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France, Arles - The Baths of ConstantineArles: The Baths of Constantinevacationchick
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France, Arles - The Baths of ConstantineArles: The Baths of Constantinevacationchick
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France, Paris, Roman BathsThe Roman Baths of Cluny, Paris. Dated to the 3rd century AD, thought to have been paid for by the guild of "Lutetian Boatmen". The complex is now incorporated into the National Museum of the Middle Ages. Photo taken by me in May 2014.Constantine IV
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Germany, Trier - Imperial bathsGoing to the baths was an important part of Roman life: Over 1600 years ago, the Romans built one of the grandest and most impressive baths in the world: the Imperial Baths.
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Geta, Rabbatmoba, cult statue of Ares, AE28Bronze AE 28, Spijkerman, p. 272 and Plate 61, #32; Hendin -, Fair, 14.37g, 28.5mm, 0o, Rabbathmoba-Areopolis mint, year 105 = 210 - 211 A.D.; obverse AUT•K•P-EP•GETAC, laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, from behind; reverse PABAQ-MUBA, cult statue of Ares in military dress, sword erect in right, spear and round shield in left, on decorated base with torch-like flaming altars on right and left
ex FORVMareich
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H-150/1597, Transylvania, Zsigmond Báthori (Sigismund) (1586-1598 A.D.) Princ of Transylvania, 3 AR-Groschen(III) (Dutka/Trojak), Huszár (Erdély 1995) 150var./1597, #1Transylvania, Zsigmond Báthori (Sigismund) (1586-1598 A.D.) Princ of Transylvania, 3 AR-Groschen(III) (Dutka/Trojak), Huszár (Erdély 1995) 150var./1597, #1
Avers: SIG•D•G•TRAN•MOL•WAL•S•R•I•P•, Bare head and cuirassed bust right.
Revers: *III*/•1•5-Crowned Báthori shield-9•7•/ GRO-ARG / TRIP:PRIN / TRANSYL / VANIÆ/•*•, in six line.
diameter: 20,2-20,5mm, weight: 2,11g, axis: 0h,
mint mark: No mint (Nagybánya, Raimund Herberstein), mint: Transylvania (Erdély), date: 1597 A.D.,
ref: Huszár (Erdély 1995) 150var./1597, Legend and date variation,
Q-001quadrans
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