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<p>[QUOTE="ycon, post: 3055075, member: 91771"]Hadrian is another you might look into. There are also coins which (I believe) were minted during the reign of Siddhārtha Gautama's (Buddha) father while he was a prince, which are collected for their close connection to him. </p><p><br /></p><p>More to the point though is that you've set up a paradox for yourself. You want coins of ancient rulers but are (not unreasonably) unwilling to accept an ancient code of morality-- as such I think you'll have a very hard time fulfilling your goal. </p><p><br /></p><p>It might behoove you to consider the fact that nearly anyone who has had sufficient power to mint coins has nearly inevitably abused that same power. I don't think it's coincidental that many people who are held up as historical exemplars of morality eg. Jesus, St. Francis, Buddha himself, renounced money and material wealth. </p><p><br /></p><p>The majority of the direct quotations of Jesus' in the gospels are about his very clear distaste for wealth. For Jesus money was both a symbol of evil ("it is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.") and a symbol of the Roman state ("Give unto caesar what is caesar's and give unto god what is god's."). You might find money minted with his face on it but you certainly won't find money minted by him. </p><p><br /></p><p>I say this as a non-christian, non-believer, simply to point out that in our inherited system of morality your aversion to holding up mass slaughterers such as Alexander or Julius Caesar as heros may stem from a similar place. </p><p><br /></p><p>I collect coins with historical figures for many reasons, but mainly because I find them interesting. Morality has never been much of a criteria for me, because if it was I would either have nothing to collect, or I would have to argue that historically held up heroes such as the ones you mentioned (or innumerable others) were "good guys" despite the atrocities they committed-- an approach to history that is all too common and symptomatic of a myopic and self-serving present.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="ycon, post: 3055075, member: 91771"]Hadrian is another you might look into. There are also coins which (I believe) were minted during the reign of Siddhārtha Gautama's (Buddha) father while he was a prince, which are collected for their close connection to him. More to the point though is that you've set up a paradox for yourself. You want coins of ancient rulers but are (not unreasonably) unwilling to accept an ancient code of morality-- as such I think you'll have a very hard time fulfilling your goal. It might behoove you to consider the fact that nearly anyone who has had sufficient power to mint coins has nearly inevitably abused that same power. I don't think it's coincidental that many people who are held up as historical exemplars of morality eg. Jesus, St. Francis, Buddha himself, renounced money and material wealth. The majority of the direct quotations of Jesus' in the gospels are about his very clear distaste for wealth. For Jesus money was both a symbol of evil ("it is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle.") and a symbol of the Roman state ("Give unto caesar what is caesar's and give unto god what is god's."). You might find money minted with his face on it but you certainly won't find money minted by him. I say this as a non-christian, non-believer, simply to point out that in our inherited system of morality your aversion to holding up mass slaughterers such as Alexander or Julius Caesar as heros may stem from a similar place. I collect coins with historical figures for many reasons, but mainly because I find them interesting. Morality has never been much of a criteria for me, because if it was I would either have nothing to collect, or I would have to argue that historically held up heroes such as the ones you mentioned (or innumerable others) were "good guys" despite the atrocities they committed-- an approach to history that is all too common and symptomatic of a myopic and self-serving present.[/QUOTE]
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