Any huge Classical History (Rome/Greece) nerds like me?

Hey guys,

I am a college student studying Classical History (Ancient Rome & Ancient Greece from 500 BC to the 1st century) and I’ve always been fascinated by history and coinage from that era.

Im currently reading “Ab Urbe Condita” by Titus Livius (Livy), “The Gallic Wars” by Julius Caesar and “The Histories” by Polybius and it’s amazing to see coins that these guys were writing about over 2,000 years ago.

I also really like Medieval silver/gold coinage.

Does anyone have any good examples of Ancient Roman, Ancient Greek or Medieval coins? I would love to see them!

Thanks!

 

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Here’s one of my favorite portraits of Gallienus



Fish faced Licinius.

 

Hi @Gam3rBlake,

Welcome, that’s what we are all about. I suggest starting with a search of previous threads for ‘Gallic war’, Julius Caesar’ and whatever your other interests are and see if you don’t have enough to read. Then go for details.

- Broucheion

 

Welcome to CT Ancients, @Gam3rBlake ! I enjoy ancient histories during the time period you enjoy. In fact must of my coins are BCE, vs. those “Modern Ancients” after CE.

ROME


Roman Republic 234-231 BCE AR Heavy Denarius - Didrachm Apollo-Horse prancing Crawford 26-1 Sear 28


KEBREN


Kebren AR Obol Archaic hd Apollo Left - Hd Ram in Incuse sq 5th C BCE 7.65mm 0.64g SNG Ash 1086


TROAS - Neandria

TROAS Neandria AR Obol 4thC BCE 0.56g 8mm Laur hd Apollo r - NEA N Ram stdng right within incuse sq SNG Cop 446


BRUTTIUM - Rhegion


Bruttium Rhegion 415-387 BCE AE 11mm 2.46g Facing lion hd - Laureate hd of Apollo Left SNG ANS 697 var


IONA Kolophon


Iona Kolophon AR Tetartemorion 530-520 BCE Archaic Apollo Incuse Punch 0.15g 4.5mm- SNG Kayhan 343 Left old


THRACE


Thrace Lysimachus AE 14 306 BC Apollo forepart of Lion


CAMPANIA


Campania AE Apollo-Achelous -275-250BCE PLATE COIN 3 KNOWN RARE SNG ANS 474 - Listed Potamikon pg 232 Plate 343


MAKEDON


Makedon Philip III Arrhidaeus-Alex IV Drm Amphipolis mint 259g 13mm Apollo-Youth horse R SNG ANS 621 Le Rider123

 

I think the entire ancient coin section are populated with classical history nerds. We have most areas covered here, lots of Greek experts, lots of Roman, a couple Parthian, Sasanian, even Hunnic, Kushan, Himyarite, etc.

There is actually a few people here sir WAY more qualified than your professors you are currently learning from.

 

At UCLA, I got a test question wrong when I mentioned Tuscan columns. Prof said they didn’t exist. Literature, as well as some placards at the Getty Villa said otherwise.
Attempted to appeal the grade but was turned down.

 

I agree with @medoraman - lots of history experts on here and some professors as well. We're all more or less nuts about ancient history and civilizations. So you are in good company.

 

Welcome to Coin Talk! If you enjoy ancient history and ancient coins, you've come to the right place. My main collecting interest is a bit farther East- especially Parthian, Sasanian, and other Persian coins, but also early Islamic, Indian, Central Asian, and Chinese coins- but I've managed to pick up a few interesting Roman coins along the way. Here's a denarius featuring a lifetime portrait of Julius Caesar, struck in January-February 44 BC just before his assassination:

A denarius struck for the troops loyal to Marc Antony in the lead-up to the Battle of Actium:

Another denarius, struck for young Octavian before he became Augustus:

And finally, since I am legally required to post at least one Eastern coin, here's a drachm of the Parthian king Orodes II, whose troops defeated a Roman force under the triumvir Crassus at the Battle of Carrhae in 53 BC. Although Orodes wasn't personally present at the battle, he did meet Crassus afterwards. Well, he met Crassus' head, anyway...

 

You've found the right place OP.

As requested...

PONTOS, Amisos. Mithradates VI Eupator. Circa 85-65 BC. Æ 29mm
O: Head of Athena right, wearing Attic helmet
R: Perseus standing facing, holding harpa and Medusa’s head; Medusa’s body at his feet, monograms to left and right.
HGC 7, 357


"Clash of the Titans" 1981 MGM/United Artists

 

..ahaha...man, did you come to the right place

 

Welcome, you're gonna enjoy it here!

 

I'm sorry to hear that you skip over the part of ancient history that I prefer but, when I was your age, I was more into Archaic Greece and earlier Roman through the Severans so I had a gap period also. I believe part of the reason is that schools teach ancient history from periods well represented in the literature and the primary documents of the later Romans leave a lot to be desired. I hope you eventually will decide to study a bit of the middle and later periods.

I do suggest you read past posts on Coin Talk where you will find thousands of coins explained by their owners. We are ending the end of the year and some of us may be posting lists of our 'top ten' coins acquired in 2020 although this has been a rough year for some of us due to Covid related changes in the coin supply. My 2019 list is here:
https://www.cointalk.com/threads/year-end-list-2019-dougsmit.351985/#post-3947830

If you want to see others, look at posts in December of the last several years. There are many posts here where one of us not only shows a coin but explains in some detail what it was about that coin that made us decide it was a 'must have' acquisition. If you like to see coins, I suggest spending time researching the online listings of coins sold. My favorites are provided by CNG Coins and acsearch.com but you can type specific keywords into Google and find a lot of drool-worthy coins.
https://www.cngcoins.com/Coins_sold.aspx
https://www.acsearch.info/

In the last few years there has been great progress made in online postings by major collections not the least of which is that of the British Museum. The American Numismatic Society has a good set of pages, too. Their site links as well to coins in other museums making their site even more useful.
http://numismatics.org/ocre/search

Of course all these sites require learning the quirks of the people (mostly academics) who made the choices on how they worked. If you are really desperate, you could even visit my personal website which has over a hundred pages on ancient coins (some as old as you, I suspect). My favorites are those intended to teach a Vocabulary needed to appreciate the coins:
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/voc.html

In 2013 I posted what I then considered my favorite 99 1/2 ancient coins. The last seven years has seen several new additions bump some of these from their position but I no longer update that site. The photo below shows just one side but the link takes you to discussions of each and the larger photos.
https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/favs.html

Welcome to coin talk. If you have questions but do not ask them here, there is nothing we can do. I remember when 'nerd' was an insult. To many of us today, the term is an honor.

 

While not a history, might I suggest the Satires by Juvenal. A great read.

 

Welcome to CT! There are so many cool coins and great articles in this forum. I wish I find out about this forum years earlier!

 

Two of my favorite ancients. A Classical Attica Owl tetradrachm.


and a Faustina Junior denarius.

 

I already have a copy!

 

Beautiful coins!

Oh wow looks like your Athenian Tetradrachm has almost a full crest on the Obverse!

 

Believe it or not I’m 31 years old.

I’m only still in college because I did some time in the military so I could afford it with the GI BILL.

I have knowledge about other places & time periods but I am focusing on attaining expertise in the earlier periods. Mostly focused on the Roman Republic and Greek Hellenistic Age.

I love this time period because Alexander the Great is a big hero of mine along with many others from that time period.

 

My reading list is a bit full right now as you can see. But I’ll definitely check it out! Thanks!