And do you have a story about the coin, the memories recalled, thoughts from the depths off the soul? I remember one night in Rome, when I rented a mountain bike, and decided to go for a spin. Rome was darkened. As was the Coliseum. So I rode around the ruins, about three-quarters around. Then I just pointed the bike in different directions. I reached the Tiber and just followed the river, ending up a a massive square. The light on he third floor (or was it the fourth floor?) of one of the buildings was on. Pope John Paul II was burning some midnight oil. The painting above was by Thomas Cole, best known for his Hudson Valley paintings. If you have a coin featuring the Coliseum, perhaps it possesses a literary echo. Here's what Lord Byron had to say about it: ARCHES on arches! as it were that Rome, Collecting the chief trophies of her line, Would build up all her triumphs in one dome, Her Coliseum stands; the moonbeams shine As ’t were its natural torches, for divine Should be the light which streams here, to illume This long-explored, but still exhaustless, mine Of contemplation; and the azure gloom Of an Italian night, where the deep skies assume Here's what writers such as Hawthorne, Longfellow, and Mark Twain imagined (http://www.the-colosseum.net/history/reflect.htm). Coins are neat. They build bridges into other areas of the arts, like painting and poetry. Coins can be tiny time machines, bringing the past to us, and we to the past. Any coins to post, any thoughts? Thanks.
Thanks for posting this gorgeous coin with the Coliseum, and you've given me something to learn more about--the seven wonders of the modern world. I think the coin at 5 o'clock is from a Mexican 20 centavo?
Somewhere I have a reproduction of a Roman coin that featured the Colosseum though I don't remember the exact story of it. I bought it in Rome nearly three years ago anyway.
The reproductions can look very nice. I've been reading about all the conservation measures and how people are going to be able to stand on there floor they are building and look up at where the crowd used to be. Sounds pretty neat to me.