My collecting is a little different, I got into ancient
numismatics with a goal of finding out about Greek material culture, and also finding out about Greek poleis other than
Athens. My academic background is in ancient philosophy, and in ancient literature (philosophical or other
wise), one hears so much about
Athens.
Athens is great! But I wanted to hear about other Greek cities. I also wanted to know about what was not written.
Pottery and statuary were way too much for me to even imagine collecting. But coins, that I could manage.
Anyone who is "Athenocentric" should compare Athenian coinage to that of
Syracuse. Scholars who dedicate themselves to just the literary tradition miss so much! There is a lot of
history hidden in Greek coinage. Of course,
Roman coinage is very rich in
history, but to me it seems like well travelled ground which I leave others to explore.
And lo and behold, surprise! surprise! Coins got me back into philosophy, with the Pythagorean coins of
Kroton and
Metapontum (at least _I_ think they're Pythagorean, and I dare anyone to refute my theories!)
Okay maybe not "dare" is the right word, but I welcome any feedback. Point is, though, that I went into not necessarily knowing were it would lead me, and as a reward for following it, I believe that I have discovered a few things, including things about myself
For the novice collector, I report the story of the Zen master and
his student: One day a student
met his master on a bridge and asked the master "what is the meaning of life?" The master suddenly reached out and grabbed the student by
his shirt and belt. He threw him overboard and yelled "swim!"
You don't have to swim, if you don't want to. But once you get used to the temperature, the water is
fine.
Kind Regards,
John