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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Curtis, post: 24854023, member: 26430&quot;]Great coin! I like all these early Augustus Denarii, but this one has an especially interesting history tied to it.</p><p><br /></p><p>At some point I&#039;d love to have <a href="https://numismatics.org/ocre/results?q=augustus+kneeling+parthian" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://numismatics.org/ocre/results?q=augustus+kneeling+parthian" rel="nofollow">one of the types that shows the kneeling Parthian returning the standards</a>. One from the ANS Collection:</p><p>[NOT MY COIN] <b><font size="3"><a href="https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.1(2).aug.288" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://numismatics.org/ocre/id/ric.1(2).aug.288" rel="nofollow">RIC I (second edition) Augustus 288</a></font></b></p><p>[ATTACH]1593060[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>If only that could&#039;ve been enough for the Romans!</p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s interesting to see how many coins name the Parthians as enemies or celebrate victories (often entirely fictional!) against them, over the entire course of Roman Imperial Coinage.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here are Commodus and Septimius Severus Denarii, both showing two Parthian Captives and trophies of captured arms:</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1593056[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]1593055[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>This one is in worse condition, but <a href="https://conservatoricoins.com/irony-of-valerians-captive/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://conservatoricoins.com/irony-of-valerians-captive/" rel="nofollow">I particularly enjoy it for the irony that it was produced by Valerian I</a>. Later he was famously captured by Shapur:</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1593057[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>(Compare the posture of the defeated Valerian in Shapur&#039;s <a href="https://oi.uchicago.edu/collections/photographic-archives/persepolis/sasanian-rock-reliefs-naqsh-i-rustam-and-naqsh-i-rajab" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://oi.uchicago.edu/collections/photographic-archives/persepolis/sasanian-rock-reliefs-naqsh-i-rustam-and-naqsh-i-rajab" rel="nofollow">bas-relief monument at the Naqsh-I Rustam</a> to the posture of Augustus&#039; kneeling Parthian in the thumbnail above -- Roman coins/artworks were clearly the model! How the tables turned!)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>These conflicts kept up periodically through the successors of Rome and Parthia -- Byzantium and the Sasanian Empire -- and beyond the Muslim conquest of Persia.</p><p><br /></p><p>Eventually, the Ottomans kept up enough pressure that, in 1453, Constantine XI gave a great speech about four good reasons to die, stripped off his imperial armor, drew his sword, and disappeared into the breach.</p><p><br /></p><p>(Or so the rousing versions of that story go! J. Norwich gives a great rendering.)[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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