Just a thought for us new collectors. "It's all Greek to Me"

[thenickelguy]

I see title topics and different categories that are best to post in but for some of us, I bet we don't know what a Roman Provincial, Roman Empire or a Byzantine is.

I was wondering if there was a place we could have to learn about what it is we might have exactly.

I really like these ancient coins but I don't know the difference between a Denarius, a Shekel or a Tetradrachm. Not yet anyway, it's all Greek to me.

Edited June 3, 2022 by thenickelguy

[ominus1]

.....boy, did you come t the right place   haha!..

 

Ancient Coin Glossary

https://www.forumancientcoins.com › moonmoth › glo...

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 3, 2022 by ominus1

[Ryro]

This is a wonderful set of books for beginners that is very affordable. I started out with just the first two books (I didn't have interest in byzantine nor non classical cultures).

And I know it's cliche but you can find a LOT just googling when you read something you aren't sure about. 

Ps, Roman Provincial (Greek Coins after Rome took over, roughly 100 BCE), Roman Empire (after the republic fell usually given the date Octavius was pronounced Augustus 27 BCE) or a Byzantine (boring! I kid, I kid. Not for me, but these are coins usually considered to come after the western empire fell, 476) is.

Edited June 3, 2022 by Ryro

[CPK]

@Ryro has the answer! Those books were made for just such a beginner. I own two of them and I have more sitting in my cart on VCoins. They are great books, filled with interesting and useful information.

 

[thenickelguy]

The Glossary Link is fantastic.

I know, I know "Buy the book before the coin" is in order but I have found as a beginner, that I buy some coins if they are inexpensive but still have eye appeal and interesting designs and decent enough detail.

Well, simply, just cause I like them. Half the fun for me is the research I do after buying one. It looks to me like there are many different ancient coins out there.

I don't know how far I'll get into this niche of coin collecting. It started out that I just wanted to have some samples of ancients in my coin and exonumia collection but the history behind these characters is quite amazing.

Thanks for the responses and suggestions!

[sand]

For me, Wikipedia is very helpful, for coins, ancient topics, and almost everything else in this universe. Often, I'll start typing something in the "Search Wikipedia" text box, and I'll be prompted with a list of helpful, relevant items.

List of Roman emperors and Byzantine emperors : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Roman_emperors 

Roman provincial coins : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_provincial_currency 

Byzantine coins : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byzantine_coinage 

Tetradrachm : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetradrachm 

Also, Youtube has some interesting videos, with people showing their ancient coins.

Edited June 3, 2022 by sand

[dougsmit]

At the very least, you will want to learn a little Latin and Greek covering terms and denominations.  Of course learning the alphabets would not hurt.  I once believed there was a need to have a reasonable vocabulary to enjoy collecting ancient coins so I posted a series of web pages intended to expose the reader to the words in boldface.  My definitions tended to be longer than those in a dictionary and a few linked to even longer pages.  Some of us collect ancient coins because it encourages us to learn things.   These pages have not been updated because I made the bad choice in participating over on that other site rather than working on my pages.  They are still available:

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/dougsmith/voc.html

[thenickelguy]

Nice link Doug. I will read the whole thing. This is exactly the kind of help I hoped to get for myself and for others who feel kind of lost as newcomers in the ancient coin world.

Thanks again all.