Coin Talk

Khazar Khaganate. AR dirham (26 mm, 3.93 g). No date, c. 880s-910s AD. Imitation of an Abbasid dirham with two "obverse" dies. Obverse: Slightly blundered first half of the Kalima, heavily blundered legend around. Reverse: Slightly blundered first half of the Kalima, heavily blundered legend around. Album K1481.1. This coin: Stephen Album Auction 36, lot 652 (January 23-25, 2020).

The Khazars, although important in their time, are best remembered for their influences on neighboring cultures, and for a religious conversion whose extent has probably been exaggerated by later accounts. There has also been a great deal of poorly-supported speculation, and this, coupled with the shortage of reliable first-hand documents or archaeological evidence, has led to their near-invisibility even to most "amateur historians" (as I presume most readers of the CoinTalk Ancients board would call themselves). In this post, I will try to stick to...

My latest addition is an absolute fascinating issue of the Severan dynasty. This coin (the reverse, that is) has been on my ‘dreamlist’: a list of coins so beautiful or historically significant, but financially forever out of my reach. This coin showed up for auction, with an attractive starting price, which, like we all know, means absolutely nothing. However, I was absolutely baffled that no one made a bid when this coin went up for auction! So, I went in and got the coin for starting price. Perhaps it’s because it has some obvious issues (rough, weak, weird flan, obverse crack) that no one wanted this one, but I absolutely love it! Auctions are just very strange phenomena, aren’t they?

I did some additional research on the reverse, and this led to the longest write up I ever made, for reasons explained below. In case you don’t want to read it, here’s the coin. And for those who are willing to read the entire write-up and help me with some of my questions, I am forever grateful!...

So if you don't know Bucephalus was Alexander the Great's famous horse that he rode into battle with. Today, I will be sharing four extremely rare Tetradrachms and Drachms struck by Seleukos I Nikator and Antiochos I Soter that feature this famed horse. I hope you enjoy, and if any of you have these coins PLEASE post them!

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With an extremely low survival rate, these virtually unknown Tetradrachms struck by Seleukos feature a magnificent portrait of a horse on the obverse and an elephant on the reverse. You should know that this issue is one of the rarest Seleucid Tetradrachms with only a few dies recorded and only 10 examples left in existence.

The reverse reads King Selekou (BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΣEΛEYKOY). Monograms such as HΡ and ΣI can be shown in between the elephant’s legs. A few examples feature no monograms, but a bee above the elephant on the reverse. Otherwise, most varieties for this type remain unpublished.

The coins were struck in Pergamon around...

If there is one thing thing students of Ancient History know about that time period, it is that people of that time took religious belief very seriously. Whether that meant being religious in the modern day sense of religious beliefs and practices is debatable but both the citizenry and the state saw religious practices as essential for the welfare of the state. Unless the gods were kept happy with the appropriate devotions,bad things could happen, to individuals and the state. Best to keep on their good side

For the most part the official state sponsored worship of the Olympian deities was a civic duty but the gods of Olympus were not seen as loving and kind. Often the exact opposite, capricious, arbitrary and, sometimes, just plain nasty. One did not love the gods. One was wary of them. However, in addition to the state sponsored religion there were a number of cults, frequently known as "mystery religions" because their ceremonies were kept secret from the uninitiated. Perhaps...

Another low-grade, poorly-described couple of ancients just came in from eBay (thank you US Postal Service!). Not everybody's cup of tea when it comes to collecting, but it keeps me out of the taverns (somewhat) and costs very little. Under COVID-19 quarantine , and a bit bored (the taverns are closed!), I am going to inflict this on you folks!

Something that surprises me about this kind of collecting is how I will occasionally get something that is "rare" that seems like it ought to be common. From what I've seen on CT over the past couple of years, ancient rarities are actually pretty common as a category, if that makes sense. Yesterday a low-grade Hadrian as and a cute little Ptolemaic bronze showed up in the mail ($9.95 for the pair, free shipping!).

The Ptolemy is indeed a common type (Svoronos 1426 /1427, Ptolemy V, VI/VIII or IX-XII, depending on who you ask). Here is a typical auction description for one of these (from acsearch):

So this post is more of a beginners guide, but I thought I'd share this for the enjoyment of advanced collectors and new collectors as a whole. Feel free to post your regnal date Ptolemaic coins for others to try and figure out.

Ptolemy XII Auletes or Neos Dionysos

Ptolemy XII Auletes, famously known as Neos Dionysos, was the half brother of previous ruler Ptolemy XI Alexander II who ruled only 19 days in 80 BC. Neos Dionysos, however, enjoyed two reigns from 80-58 BC and then again from 55-51 BC.

The reason to know this information: Tetradrachms were struck in all periods of Neos Dionysos’ reign. They are labeled 1st reign and 2nd reign. Tetradrachms labeled 1st reign were struck from 80-58 BC and 2nd reign Tetradrachms were struck from 55-51 BC. They continued being struck during his absence.

What makes it simple is that all the Tetradrachms were struck at Alexandria or Paphos—and there isn’t any major varieties.


Analyzing the Regnal Dates...

Hadrian
The Roman Emperor Hadrian (117-138 AD) enjoyed visiting provinces of the Empire, spending more than half of his time outside of Italy. In these tours, the first of which began in 121 AD, he would inspect the borders, encourage military discipline, and launch building projects. In 122 AD, he began the ~six-year construction of the well-known Hadrian’s Wall which stretched 73 miles from coast to coast to mark the northern limit of Britannia. Hadrian had been nicknamed “Graeculus” (“little Greek”) as a youth, and as a philhellene world leader, sought to make Athens the cultural capital of the Empire.

In 130 AD, Hadrian visited Iudaea. He found Jerusalem still in ruins, 60 years after its fall in 70 AD during the first Jewish-Roman War of 66-74 AD. General Titus led the siege of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple. Proceeds from war spoils and Jewish slaves were used to construct the Amphitheatric Flavium (now known as the...

Many amateur astronomers had the chance to observe Sunday in the sky of East Africa, for the summer solstice, a rare solar eclipse of the type "ring of fire".
This astronomical phenomenon, which occurs only once or twice a year, began shortly after sunrise in central Africa, crossing the Democratic Republic of the Congo , South Sudan, northern Ethiopia, before taking the direction of Asia, to finish in the Pacific Ocean, south of the island of Guam, at 9:32 GMT. In this type of eclipse, the Moon passes in front of the Sun, in an alignment with the Earth sufficiently perfect to hide it. But not entirely, as during a total eclipse: the Moon not being close enough to Earth, it is an annular eclipse, that is to say that at its maximum, there remains a ring around the Sun, called "ring of fire". Only 2% of the Earth's surface...