Troyden

My humble contribution to Augustus. Denarius; Augustus; circa 2 BC -4 AD; weight 3.68 g; Catalogue: RIC I 210; Lungdunum (modern Lyon) mint or Rome mint Obv: Head of Augustus, laureate, right, CAESAR AVGVSTVS DIVI F PATER PATRIAE around Rev: Augustus’ grandsons Gaius and Lucius Caesar standing, togate, each holding hand on a shield and spear, priestly utensils above, C L CAESARES AVGVSTI F COS DESIG PRINC IVVENT around

Diocletian's retirement commemorative follis. 305 AD, Ticinum (modern Pavia) mint. Catalogue: RIC VI Ticinum 57a

Justinian's pentanummi from Antioch. Notable as one of the last (if not THE last) coins with unambiguously pagan imagery (Tyche of Antioch)

Nice article. Some of mine: Tetradrachm of Alexander the Great, circa 325-322 BC (lifetime), weight 17.23 g., Catalogue: Price 3641, Babylon mint Obv: Head of beardless Heracles right wearing lionskin headdress Rev: Zeus Aetophoros seated on stool-throne left, wearing a himation over his lower limbs, eagle on outstretched right hand, sceptre in left hand, ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ (of Alexander) to the right The other is not exactly Alexander, but his satrap. Tetradrachm (double shekel) of Mazaeus as satrap under Alexander the Great, circa 331-328 BC, weight 17.04 g., Catalogue: Sear 5652, SNG Cop 260, SNG Berry 1456, BMC Arabia etc. p. 180, 1 var., Babylon mint Obv: Baal/Marduk, seated on stool-throne left, wearing a himation over his lower limbs, lotus-tipped sceptre in outstretched right hand, BLTRZ (Baaltarz) in Aramaic right Rev: lion walking left, MZDI (Mazaeus) in Aramaic above

I have two coins from this series. A denarius (RIC 2) and a sestertius (RIC 159), both depicting Vespasian. Both are far from impeccable, but still it's neat to have some coins which could be pinpointed to commemorating a specific historical event.

Congrats! Here's mine, nowhere close as fine as yours!

Steven the Trilobite, the fixture of my desk.

Wrong topic, sorry

The "Poor one".

Small suggestion: add info regarding the location of the buyer/seller. This is useful for calculating costs due to shipping and customs.

As island nation, Thasos was never part of the Persian Empire and thus was outside of the Achaemenid monetary system. Thasos followed monetary trends of mainland Greece where gold coins weren't popular during the Archaic and Classical eras.

According to Sear, Thasos had gold and silver mines. My guess is that gold was exported for use in jewelry and votives. Gold coins weren't that much popular in Greece proper before the Hellenistic era.

Are those even genuine coins?

That's some nice archaic satyr.

What Dio wrote about EID MAR?

One of the most interesting issues of ancient Greek coins are those issued by Thassos (or Thasos), a city-state located on a small island off the Aegean coast of Thrace. Initially a Phoenician colony (of which the tangible remnant was the cult of Melkart, identified with Heracles, which lasted in historical times), the island was settled in the Archaic era by the Ionian Greeks. The latter brought the cult of Dionysus to the island, and the satyr became a symbol of the state. Thassos' wealth came from the rich precious metal mines located on the island-controlled Thracian coast. Coins have been minted from these metals since the archaic era. And what coins! They depicted the city's symbol - a satyr, referring to the Dionysian cult. On staters and drachmas, the satyr kidnapped (for a purpose known only to him) a young nymph, who raised her hand in protest. The small, fractional denominations show the satyr just by himself in a strange pose. According to some satyr runs, others claim he is pleasing himself, as befits a satyr. Thassos' prosperity did not last forever. The city had the misfortune to make a pact with the devil, that is, it became part of the Delian League. Initially a loose alliance led by Athens, the League quickly turned into Athenian heavy-handed hegemony. Thassos famously revolted in 465 BCE, but received no aid from Persia or from Sparta and Athens forced the islanders to surrender after a two-year siege. The city was severely restricted in its rights. For us, it is interesting that Athens took control of Thassos' mines and since then the city has stopped minting its coins. Instead, the silver flowed to Athens and was used to strike the famous Owls. Thassos managed to regain independence in 411 BCE, during the final phase of the Peloponnesian War. It also regained control of its mines and resumed coin production. But these were different coins. Visually, the style has changed, simple archaic figures have been replaced by beautiful ones, made in the classic canon of beauty. The coins were also much "polite". On large denominations, the satyrs no longer abducted nymphs. On the contrary, the nymph now embraced the running satyr, and a smile was drawn on her face. For the satyr was no longer a symbol of the militant masculinity of the islanders like in the old days. Now it seems Thassos itself was represented by the nymph, she was the freed virgin whom the satyr was taking to a place of safety. The satyr also behaved more politely on the smaller coins. Instead of assuming strange poses, he would kneel and offer a goblet like a gift of freedom to the inhabitants of the island. There are also motifs of the head of Dionysus and jumping dolphins. In the Hellenistic era, the satyrs and nymphs almost completely disappeared. The city still minted coins in great numbers, but now they mainly depicted the head of the young Dionysus and the figure of Heracles-Melkart, linking the two most important religious cults for the island. Thassos (island off Trace), archaic stater (525-463 BC); weight 8.26 g, diameter circa 20 mm; catalogue: SNG COP 1008, Sear 1357 Unfortunately this is the only coin from Thassos that I own. Post yours please!

Tyrean tetradrachm of Antiochus VII Sidetes.

Yes, discord spawned out of subreddit, with people moving after a few mod dramas. Sounds familiar?

Maybe you have scripts disabled. Try different browser perhaps.

Obviously the biggest group at this forum are evacuees from another one. But by no means that's the only one group. Some of us came here straight from a Discord server dedicated to ancient coins. Users there are relatively younger, but no less passionate about ancient coins, antiques and history. So, if you like an occasionally more lighthearted (but by no means nonsensical) discussion about ancient coins, coupled with an occasional meme, feel free to drop by at https://discord.gg/9fAmRFCGg7

In plenty jurisdictions such acts are criminalized. At least in many countries of the European Union

Dude, that's not me.

Hold their beer.

Marc Antony's legionnary denarii were also minted in haste for wartime expenses, so this might be the common denominator.

That would indeed explain it. Especially considering that under Caesar the Roman mint was still an old Republican ad-hoc creation headed by politicians, rather than professional civil-service institution it became under Augustus. It's quite possible that it had problems with fulfilling massive orders for the planned Parthian campaign.