NEWP: Trajan, AR Drachm, Bostra.

I have never smoked but my mom does and we bicker about it. 1 pack costs almost $6 here in l.a. and she smokes a pack a day. Shes quit before for 10 years and one night with friends and she started again cause they did. Now its been almost 20 years. Lots of $ down the drain.

Shes tried it all, even those e-cigs and nothing. First time was cold turkey. Shes tried it again and like JA, shes ready to slaughter someone.

I dont have any unhealthy habits, I drink about 10 beers a year at the most. Im a real bad penny pincher, to the point that the copper plating is pinched out to just zinc showing.

As for the coin, very nice. Honestly never seen that type before. I like the portrait mainly.

 

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Hey, I'm here to help.

 

I'm currently using a similar rationalization for justifying a future big bid. In the last week alone I've 'saved' thousands by deciding not to bid on coins I liked

 

Love the Camel, i saw one these on vcoins, very cool...i started smoking at 12 yrs old and smoked to 25, got married and quit, i haven't smoked since and i'm still married 30 yrs. Now if the kids would move out, life would be good...

 

that's a fantastic coin JA, never seen the type. love the camel!

i quit smoking two ears ago this month. i tried for several months and had slowed down my rate to just a trickle (couple of cigs a day). my mother got diagnosed with lung cancer,and i stopped. she never smoked a day in her life by they way.

i have used ecigs with some success (still have one...will use if i need it). but i really don't miss it anymore, don't even like to be around smoke anymore.

 

I haven't seen camels on coins other than issues of Bostra. There may be some...I don't know. There is another type, Arabia standing with a camel at her feet, which you find on drachms and various bronzes, but the camel-alone reverse is scarce, and the condition of my coin probably makes it a rarity.

It's curious to me that the Nabataeans, who used camels extensively in warfare and trade, never depicted them on coinage. It was left to the Romans.

 

I've never smoked, I'm only 14 sooooooo...

My grandfather on one side smoked, grandmother on the other, as well as one of my aunts. Well my grandma threatened to smoke with him if he didn't stop. He stopped, cold turkey. Other grandmother has a persistent cough, and my aunt had lung cancer.

Those things and the smell of my dad smoking an occasional (probably six a year) cigar have convinced me never to try.

 

I like that style, great coin!

 

Weird, I wonder why they show a Bactrian camel? I have never seen other than an Arabian type being pictured in use in this area.

 

Its population and range were much greater in ancient times. The Silk Road was heavily trafficked by Nabataean caravans, clear into central Asia. Long before they were sedentarized, the Nabataeans would have discovered that the Bactrian camel was far better at long-distance travel than the dromedary. Today, the species numbers only about 2 million, mostly domesticated, and endangered.

 

I didn't know the Nabateans participated in the Silk Road. I always envisioned Persia/Syria as the "drop off" area where the Silk Road and Arabian Trade caravans dropped off goods to be taken to their final markets. I have never really read any Nabatean references in my Silk Road reading, but maybe they were before the timeframe I am concentrating on.

You are right about wild Bactrian camels, they are one of the most endangered species on earth. I think there might be a couple of hundred left, if that. Wild dromedary camels died off maybe 1000 years ago, only domestic ones remain.

 

Not just the Silk Road, but they had shipping routes to destinations all along the West coast of India, and ventured as far as China. Few people realize what a sprawling influence this empire had on the Near East. This was all before 100 AD.

 

It would make sense if India was involved. Most people aren't aware, but the Silk Road moved around 100-200 AD. It used to be southern, running through northern India. There was a three way point, where one path ran south to India proper, one west to southern Persia, and the third NE through a narrow pass into China. With the coming of the Yueh Chi and all of the wars involved, gradually the Silk Road moved north and from there the Sogdians took control.

Sounds like between you and I we have this subject pretty well covered, huh John?

 

Dan Gibson sums up the ancient trade route system quite well on Nabataea.net...

"From our experience, trade routes can be funny things. Most westerners think in terms of major nations trading with other major nations through established and well-known routes. The eastern mindset is different. The Bedouin think in terms of being middlemen, conducting trade between two centers. This is significantly different. Camel caravans were making profit by bringing goods from one place to another, but they were not the official representatives of either center. The governments of these centers made money by taxing the caravans. The caravan owners made better profits when they avoided taxes. So trade routes were in constant flux as the caravans tried to avoid taxation centers. There were, and are, many ways to cross the desert. Each route has its positive and negative points.

First, any caravan passing through a settled area would have to pay something to the sheik who controlled that area. Settled areas, however, were usually located around water spots, and caravans needed water. The Nabataeans grew in wealth and power, because they developed secret water collection systems in the desert, so that their caravans did not need to pass through areas where they might be taxed."

http://nabataea.net/nroute.html

The Bactrian camel, with its long range, would certainly have made a huge contribution to the caravans' avoidance of centers of taxation.

 

Interesting.

The trade route movement I describe though was much more major. It was due to constant warfare caused by the rise of the Kushans, (and later on red huns and the Sassnids fighting them), that the Silk Road moved hundreds and hundreds of miles north. This move was so dramatic that in many ways India got cut out of the old three way trade, and new routes had to be created just for European-Indian trade. This is how the trade route of the Romans of sailing up the Nile, crossing over to the port on the Indian ocean, was created. The romans desired things like Indian steel and gems, and the Silk Road no longer included India. They also could not sail the Red Sea since prevailing winds only allow travel in one direction.

Also, I wonder how this intertwines with Nabatean history? If the Silk Road moved so dramatically that the Nabateans no longer had access to Chinese goods, I wonder if this precipitated their movement out of the caravan trade? I wonder if the Kushans and Huns were basically off handedly responsible for Nabatean trade routes devaluing?

Sorry if I am taking this thread OT guys. I just find this stuff interesting.

 

As far as the Nabataeans go, we're talking about the first three or four centuries BC, and most of their trade consisted of product from Arabia Felix being exported. But they covered a huge territory with their caravans. In the first century AD, the Nabataeans didn't so much move out of the caravan trade as they were simply subsumed by the Roman Empire.

 

Fantastic coin! Two Thumbs-Up!