318-324 AD
DN VAL LICIN LICINIVS NOB C, helmeted and cuirassed bust left holding spear and shield
IOVI CONSERVATORI, Jupiter standing left holding Victory on globe and eagle-tipped scepter, another eagle at feet to left, captive seated on ground to right, XIII in right field
Sear 15409
Mesembria, originally a Thracian settlement known as Menebria, became a Greek colony when settled by Dorians from Megara at the beginning of the 6th century BC, and was an important trading centre from then on and a rival of Apollonia (Sozopol).
Remains from the Hellenistic period include the acropolis, a temple of Apollo, and an agora. A wall which formed part of the fortifications can still be seen on the north side of the peninsula.
Bronze and silver coins were minted in the city from the 5th century BC and gold coins from the 3rd century BC. The town fell under Roman rule in 71 BC, yet continued to enjoy privileges such as the right to mint its own coinage.
It is now the city of Nesebar in Bulgaria. If you're European you might know it better as the city just south of Sunny Beach.
I don't actually remember when I bought this coins, but I've always really liked the design. The Crested Helmet is, of course, one of the most recognizable ancient Greek symbols, and I also like the symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing reverse with MEΣΑ inside the spokes of a wheel.
This is a fine little bronze issue struck in Antioch in modern day Syria under Flavius Delmatius, a Caesar of the Roman Empire and member of the Constantinian dynasty.
Delmatius was the nephew of Constantine I. His father, also named Flavius Delmatius, was the half-brother of Constantine and served as censor. He was the brother of Hannibalianus.
On 18 September 335, Delmatius the younger was raised to the rank of Caesar, with the control of Thracia, Achaea and Macedonia. He died in late summer 337, killed by his own soldiers. It is possible that his death was related to the purge that hit the imperial family at the death of Constantine, and organized by Constantius II with the aim of removing any possible claimant to imperial power other than the sons of the late emperor.
Obverse: FL DELMATIVS NOB C
Reverse: GLORIA EXCERCITVS, two soldiers standing facing each other, each resting on spear and shield, a standard between them
15mm and 1.35g
Obverse: IMP CM Q TRAIANVS DECIVS AVG, cuirassed bust with radiate head right
Reverse: DACIA , Dacia standing left, holding draco standart
I have a couple of these silver coins celebrating the (re)conquest of Dacia, modern day Romania, under Trajan Decius.
Dacia had been invaded by the Carpi from the 230s and forward, until the Philip I sent Decius to deal with them around 245 AD. He finally stabilized the area around 248 AD, and his troops then acclaimed him emperor.
A short civil war ensued, Philip was killed near Verona in AD 249, and Decius was recognized by the Senate. He would rule for only a couple of years as he and his son were killed by Goths at the Battle of Abritus in 251 AD.
Dacia is holding a so-called Draco-standart, which was apparently a dragon-like battle-standard used by the Dacians. When they attacked on horseback, the flow of air would create a sort of frightening howl. Dacian horsemen were also used in the legions, and famously a company of Dacian horsemen with a Draco-standard were stationed in the UK close to Wales.
Some people believe that the legend of King Arthur the Dragon grew from these Dacian knights being the only law and order around after the Romans left. Who knows, maybe they inspired the Welsh dragon too.
Thank you! Just printed on a regular printer, cut out, and applied with milk 😁
Alright, sounds fine then :) I know many authentic coins can seem cast, especially on pictures. When you have them in hand they usually seem fine.
That aside, I've always really liked tetrarchy-coins. There's just something about the regularity of portraits and the style which speaks to me, and underlines that the Tetrarchy was a definite and important break from the chaos of the 3rd century.
Nice obverse. Where did you get it?
To me it looks a little bit like a cast copy, but it's always hard to tell from a picture and if you know it's from a legit source I am sure it's fine.
That's a lot of special equipment & artillery. I wonder if they're doing a combined push & interdiction campaign in the south and how that would work.
The obverse (front) reminds me a little bit of this coin, with three emperors standing. But I don't see the usual M-reverse, I don't really know if it's a match.
Hi :)
So the first coin is definitely not Roman - but I am not certain what it is, as it's not my specialty. I think it's an indian coin from the Mughal empire. Weight and diameter, both to .1 digits, would make it easier to get closer. That would technically make it a modern coin, although it is of course still quite old. Think 15-th 16th century. But similar coins were also struck up until the 19th century.
The second coin is in a little bit too bad of a shape for me to really recognize. I think it's unlikely that it's Roman, but if it is I'd guess the byzantine empire from around the 6th century, as it looks vaguely like the crude coins struck by the caliphate after they conquered the levant from the Byzantines.
Thank you! This was cabbage which I'd left around for the winter, and it'd just started sprouting these small leaves in the early early spring. Tiny and very colourful.
This is a follis - at this point in time a small bronze coin with thin silvering - stuck in Thessalonica in Greece in AD 324. 18mm and 3.3g.
Obverse: CONSTANTINVS IVN NOB C, Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust left
Reverse: VOT/·/X in three lines within wreath, TSBVI
I have it noted down as RIC VII 128 - which I suppose is true enough, but RIC (Roman Imperial Coinage) is a reference which few people have actual access to, so many dealers and collectors just accept whichever number is noted down at face value and don't double check :)
VOT X on the reverse refers to a vow to rule for 10 years. In reality, Constantine II was only ruler for 3 years - 337 to 340. This coin was struck when he was 8 years old.
Haven't really made many mistakes in my life, so.... red door!
Back to the interdiction campaign?
I was using Connect
Sappho from Mytilene on Lesbos is probably best known for giving her name to being a lesbian, but in fact wrote not (only) about love between women, but about love in general. In these fragments about the love of a young man, Atthis.
I
…..You burn me…..
II
Remembering those things
We did in our youth…
…Many, beautiful things…
III
…Again and again…because those
I care for best, do me
Most harm…
IV
You came, and I was mad for you
And you cooled my mind that burned with longing…
V
Once long ago I loved you, Atthis,
A little graceless child you seemed to me
VI
Nightingale, herald of spring
With a voice of longing….
VII
Eros, again now, the loosener of limbs troubles me,
Bittersweet, sly, uncontrollable creature….
VII
………..but you have forgotten me…
VIII
You and my servant Eros….
IX
Like the sweet-apple reddening high on the branch,
High on the highest, the apple-pickers forgot,
Or not forgotten, but one they couldn’t reach…
X
Neither for me the honey
Nor the honeybee…
XI
Come from heaven, wrapped in a purple cloak…
XII
Of all the stars, the loveliest…
XIII
I spoke to you, Aphrodite, in a dream….
XIV
Yet I am not one who takes joy in wounding,
Mine is a quiet mind….
XV
Like the mountain hyacinth, the purple flower
That shepherds trample to the ground…
XVI
Dear mother, I cannot work the loom
Filled, by Aphrodite, with love for a slender boy…
The verse measure - the Sapphic stanza - consists of three 11-syllable verses of dactyls (long-short-short) and trochees (short-long) followed by a short five-syllable final verse. What greater honor can there be for a poet than to have a type of verse named after you?
She was one of the 9 poets who were studied in the classical academies for almost 1000 years. Plato, who lived 200 years after Sappho, called her 'the tenth muse', and Horace - 500 years after her death - considered her almost divine.
The poet Catullus, who is still read in our time, became widely famous for his translations of Sappho's poems. Unfortunately for all of us, the vast majority have been lost.
However, in the last 15 years more and more fragments of her poems are coming to light due to new technology for analyzing fragile papyrus fragments. New poems by Sappho are therefore periodically published - approximately 2600 years after they were written. Isn't it wonderful how her poetry can create an emotional connection to a woman who lived before the Romans even got out of bed?
The coin is a silver Diobol struck 400-350 BC in Mytilene. 10mm, 1.31g.
Obverse: Laureate head of Apollo right
Reverse: MYTI. Head of Aphrodite or Sappho right; uncertain symbol to left; all within incuse circle
Personally, I find it appropriate that we do not know whether the reverse features one of the greatest love poets of all time - or the god of love she usually invokes in her poems.
Agreed
Why the orientation issue?
I like cabbage, don't judge.
Putting feet there like it's a totally vanilla thing 😐