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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Severus Alexander, post: 3042675, member: 84744&quot;]<b>Let&#039;s see some of <span style="color: #0000ff">your</span> favourite stuff from the Ancients Checklist!!</b></p><p>Here are a few of the more obscure things I have, or clarifying examples:</p><p><br /></p><p>This Theban stater is one of a few types that can be dated to the time of the Theban hegemony (371-362 BCE):</p><p>[ATTACH=full]759647[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>This denarius was issued in 63 BCE, during Cicero&#039;s consulship.&nbsp; (Well, it might have been... sources are inconsistent on the date.&nbsp; The most popular alternative is 60 BCE.)&nbsp; I like that it depicts the electoral process, in this case a citizen voting on a new law proposal.&nbsp; The voting tablet is marked with a &quot;V&quot; for &quot;uti rogas&quot; or &quot;as you ask&quot;, vs. A for &quot;antiqua&quot; or &quot;bad idea, I like it better the old way.&quot; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />&nbsp; The obverse shows Vesta or perhaps the chief Vestal Virgin.&nbsp; Overall, the coin refers to an ancestor of the moneyer, L. Cassius Longinus Ravilla, who introduced the balloting method and also &quot;protected&quot; the Vestal traditions by condemning two vestals to death for unchastity.&nbsp; The traditional method of execution was to entomb the victim alive. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie67" alt=":nailbiting:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]759648[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s an early Roman provincial issue from Macedon, issued immediately following Aemilius Paullus&#039;s final defeat of Perseus in 168 BC.&nbsp; (Legend: ΜΑΚΕΔΟΝΩΝ ΤΑΜΙΟΥ ΓΑΙΟΥ ΠΟΠΛΙΛΙΟΥ, i.e. Gaius Publilius, who was serving as quaestor.)</p><p>[ATTACH=full]759649[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>And here&#039;s an example of the very last Provincial coinage from Alexandria, issued in 295-6 just before a sweeping reform of the coinage introduced by the emperor Diocletian.&nbsp; (This is a coin of Maximianus, Diocletian&#039;s partner in charge of the West.&nbsp; If you want a last year issue, look for year 12 for Diocletian, year 11 for Maximianus, or year 4 for either Constantius or Galerius.)&nbsp; The reverse shows Elpis, the personification of hope.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]759650[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s a 2nd century imitation of a denarius of Antoninus Pius (138-161), likely produced in &quot;barbarian&quot; territory north the border, in central or eastern Europe.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]759651[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>It&#039;s hard to identify coins of the pre-Kushan Yuezhi with great confidence, but here&#039;s one they probably issued in Sogdiana around 100 BCE.&nbsp; It&#039;s based on a coin of the Bactrian ruler Euthydemos, showing a very stylized Herakles sitting on rocks.&nbsp; The legend, in Sogdian Aramaic, reads &quot;m’lht y’vg&quot; or &quot;great yabghu.&quot;&nbsp; The terms &quot;Yabghu&quot; and &quot;Khagan&quot; (or Khan) were used by Turkic speakers on the steppes for over a millennium, illustrating the fairly unified culture on the steppes.&nbsp; I&#039;ve represented the steppe peoples prominently in the list because of their huge but often neglected historical importance.&nbsp; More often than not, they provide the essential link between east and west, connecting China with India, with Persia, with the Roman empire, and even with the Franks.&nbsp; Think: the original Persians, the Parthians, the Scythians, the Xiongnu/Huns, the Turks, the Hepththalites, the Avars, etc.&nbsp; (And later, of course, the Mongols!)&nbsp; The dreaded steppe horse archer dominated southerners&#039; nightmares for a thousand years or more!</p><p>[ATTACH=full]759652[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s an early bronze cowrie from China (difficult to date, possibly c. 600 BCE), as well as an early round coin with a square hole from the state of Qi (c. 300-220 BCE).&nbsp; The holed coin may in fact descend from the cowrie; both were carried on strings.&nbsp; The last Chinese &quot;cash&quot; coins were produced early in the 20th century, and as you probably know they didn&#039;t look all that different from the bottom one here!</p><p>[ATTACH=full]759653[/ATTACH] </p><p>[ATTACH=full]759654[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>And finally, here&#039;s an early east Asian issue from around 450 in either the Pyu city states (Beikthano) or the state of Funan.&nbsp; (It was sold to me as the former, but I&#039;m unclear on how that was determined.)&nbsp; This is the &quot;rising sun&quot; type from the list, and it&#039;s a hefty coin: 31mm and nearly 10g.&nbsp; The reverse shows a Shrivatsa temple/symbol, significant in both Hinduism and Buddhism.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]759655[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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