Message:

<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2723557, member: 19463&quot;]My very unpopular quiz page had a question on the number nine from which the photo below is taken.</p><p><img src="http://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/quiz6.jpg" class="bbCodeImage wysiwygImage" alt="" unselectable="on" /> </p><p>Coin B is the most common spelled out nine L ENATOV by Diocletian.&nbsp; Nine was spelled out because the stand alone numeral theta was the sign of thanatos or death.&nbsp; Coin A shows the other common dodge using additive delta (4) and epsilon (5) = 9 on a coin of Constantine I.&nbsp; C shows that later Christian rulers did not go for Pagan superstitions so theta was used for the workshop on this Constantius II.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]617594[/ATTACH]</p><p>Perhaps more strange is the Alexandrian drachm of Antoninus Pius with Nilus reclining on his crocodile.&nbsp; It reads L TPICKAIS.&nbsp; Thirteen was Tris (3) kai (and) deka (10) but the coin has no deka so the 13 was abbreviated.&nbsp; That does not explain the final S.&nbsp; The Nilus type is very common at Alexandria.&nbsp; Below is a year 12 (L DWDEK) of Hadrian also with the reclining Nilus type.&nbsp; Completely separate above the figure is IS which is the numeral for 16.&nbsp; It happens that a river measurement of 16 cubits was what the Egyptians considered necessary to flood the fields and renew the land insuring a bountiful harvest.&nbsp; Here the 16 is a request to Nilus for a 16 cubit flood level.&nbsp;&nbsp; I consider the final IS on the Pius to carry the same meaning but am not sure if we should read that I both with TPICKA or just say the abbreviation was shorter and it was a coincidence that the I was there standing for ten along with the S (6).&nbsp;&nbsp; How are we to say what was in the head of the die cutter?&nbsp; If there were a dot before the IS, I would have to take them as separates but there is no dot. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]617599[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>Before you say no one would do anything so stupid, lets remember that there are antoniniani of the later 3rd century with legend RESTITVTOR&nbsp; BIS allowing the OR to be recycled to make the second word ORBIS.&nbsp; How are we to know?&nbsp; We give our best guesses.&nbsp; I could not enjoy a hobby that provided everything you needed to know in a &#039;Redbook&#039;.&nbsp; Someone can write an article on such things but proving conclusions and convincing every expert (real or imagined) will not be the easiest task.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

Your name or email address:

Do you already have an account?

• No, create an account now.
• Yes, my password is:
• Forgot your password?

Stay logged in