Perseus Times - Hellenistic Era Timeline

[Spargrodan]

Hi everyone,

For those who’ve been following my earlier posts, you know I’m working on a hobby project—a webpage focused on the Hellenistic Era. I’ve started a new thread because my ideas have evolved, and I’m taking a fresh approach.

While the project has become a bit broader than my original numismatic focus, it still ties into my interest in the numismatic world and I hope could also offer educational value to fellow hobbyists.

Over the past three weeks, I’ve been planning and designing the site. Although it’s still in the template stage, I’m pleased with how it’s coming together and feel ready to start adding content.

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Any suggestions, ideas, or constructive feedback would be much appreciated.

 

Ohh and at this stage it's broken on mobiles so it's best to check it on a computer.

 

Thanks!

 

Link to the page:

https://www.perseustimes.com/

Edited October 12, 2024 by Spargrodan

[NewStyleKing]

It must be a bit difficult having a numismatic focus because the drive to change the coins from stumpy ugly messes to magnificent large and thin flans with modern Hellenistic artwork in the great transformation was not uniform and generally not long lasting. The example of the Athens NewStyle will show the rapid deterioration after a few short years. Some didn't last long, Kyme, Myrina, Lebedos, Aigai, Cyzicus,Heraklia, Magnesia Syros, Techniki. Some had a life of their own like the Thasos tetradrachms, why Thasos, could it be because Danubian Celts were close by and were familiar with the coinage and mercenaries were a big market?. What about the little coins, Apollonia, Dyrrachium, Rhodes, wow it's a big net you will need to cast and then when you think you spot a pattern, puff, its vanished! The cistaphorus is a bit of a mystery still!  

I look forward to it.

[Sulla80]

Hi @Spargrodan, it looks like the start of an ambitious project.  I like clean design of the timeline and color coding so far - I will be interested to see you how you start to add in images of coins and historical anecdotes.  Here are my three current experiments in organizing coins by timeline (others have failed and been removed):

• https://www.sullacoins.com/post/index-to-sulla
• https://www.sullacoins.com/roman-republic
• https://www.sullacoins.com/projects-8

Your framework has a much more elegant look and feel and seems more scalable (minimizing need to scroll) than any of these three.  Here's a page that I like for its simplicity and content https://www.davidmus.dk/islamic-art/the-seljuks-of-rum/coin/235 However, It doesn't connect a timeline well and makes little attempt to connect books, art objects, and coins that could all be inter-related.  The MET has a nice timelines: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/05/eusb.html that connects events and art objects and a variety of ways to navigate a vast amount of content: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works#!?theme=73#%3Fchrono=05eusb.  It would be nice to have a "Coins/Numismatics" or "Artifact Type" filter.

Best wishes in your project - look forward to seeing the evolution.

[Spargrodan]

7 hours ago, NewStyleKing said:

It must be a bit difficult having a numismatic focus because the drive to change the coins from stumpy ugly messes to magnificent large and thin flans with modern Hellenistic artwork in the great transformation was not uniform and generally not long lasting. The example of the Athens NewStyle will show the rapid deterioration after a few short years. Some didn't last long, Kyme, Myrina, Lebedos, Aigai, Cyzicus,Heraklia, Magnesia Syros, Techniki. Some had a life of their own like the Thasos tetradrachms, why Thasos, could it be because Danubian Celts were close by and were familiar with the coinage and mercenaries were a big market?. What about the little coins, Apollonia, Dyrrachium, Rhodes, wow it's a big net you will need to cast and then when you think you spot a pattern, puff, its vanished! The cistaphorus is a bit of a mystery still!  

I look forward to it.

Yeah, you're completely right about it being a huge and difficult task. I by no means aim to create a complete resource, it's just a hobby project. In the end, it's a fun way for me to learn more about history and numismatics. Plus, who knows, maybe my research could be useful to someone else as well. 🙂

[Spargrodan]

6 hours ago, Sulla80 said:

Hi @Spargrodan, it looks like the start of an ambitious project.  I like clean design of the timeline and color coding so far - I will be interested to see you how you start to add in images of coins and historical anecdotes.  Here are my three current experiments in organizing coins by timeline (others have failed and been removed):

• https://www.sullacoins.com/post/index-to-sulla
• https://www.sullacoins.com/roman-republic
• https://www.sullacoins.com/projects-8

Your framework has a much more elegant look and feel and seems more scalable (minimizing need to scroll) than any of these three.  Here's a page that I like for its simplicity and content https://www.davidmus.dk/islamic-art/the-seljuks-of-rum/coin/235 However, It doesn't connect a timeline well and makes little attempt to connect books, art objects, and coins that could all be inter-related.  The MET has a nice timelines: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/05/eusb.html that connects events and art objects and a variety of ways to navigate a vast amount of content: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/works#!?theme=73#%3Fchrono=05eusb.  It would be nice to have a "Coins/Numismatics" or "Artifact Type" filter.

Best wishes in your project - look forward to seeing the evolution.

I've checked out your website before, and it was one of many inspirations behind my decision to create my own, really well-structured! Figuring out how to format and present all the data cohesively is a big design challenge, but I love the concept of offering a clear overview while giving users the ability to zoom into sections that catch their interest.

I'm also thinking about adding filters or search tags, and that’s something I’ll explore further. For that to work, I’ll need to get into CMS collections. At the moment, everything is static, and it makes updating a bit of a pain. My end goal is to make everything dynamic.

Thanks a lot for the valuable feedback and for the links to more inspiration!