The worst year to live through in human history - 536 CE

If one were to guess the worst times to live through there are many choices. 1347 CE was nasty as Black Death hit Europe. The Holocaust, between 1941 and 1945. Or 1918, the year of the Spanish flu pandemic. Scientists have come up with their answer. 536 CE. 536 was in the reign of Byzantine emperor Justinian the Great. Temperatures plunged, causing global chaos - drought, crop failures, summertime snow, and widespread famine.

The Triumph of Death. Pieter Bruegel the Elder. 1562.

"For the sun gave forth its light without brightness, like the moon, during the whole year," wrote Byzantine historian Procopius. Temperatures in the summer of 536 fell 1.5°C to 2.5°C, initiating the coldest decade in the past 2300 years. In the year 536 CE, volcanic ash and debris was mixed in with the ice layer, indicating a large volcanic event. Greenland and Antarctic ice cores showed evidence of a second eruption in 540 CE.

When a volcano erupts, it spews sulfur, bismuth, and other substances high into the atmosphere. There, they form an aerosol veil that reflects much of the sun's light back into space, cooling the planet. The dual blasts were from an Iceland eruption.  In 541, bubonic plague struck the Roman port of Pelusium in Egypt. What came to be called the Plague of Justinian spread rapidly, wiping out at least one-third and up to one-half of the population of the eastern Roman Empire. In one year, the outbreak killed an estimated 25 million.

Year of the Six Emperors

The Year of the Six Emperors occurred in 238 AD when Maximinus Thrax, Gordian I, Gordian II, Pupienus, Balbinus, and Gordian III were recognized as emperors. The Year of the Six Emperors began during the short reign of Maximinus Thrax, who had ruled since 235. Thrax’s reign is considered by many scholars to be the start of the Crisis of the 3rd Century (235–84 AD), during which the Empire was beset by invasions, plague, civil wars and economic difficulties.

Maximinus Thrax was a very tall and large man who likely suffered from acromegaly (gigantism), a pituitary disorder. The likelihood of Maximinus having been acromegalic has been written up in medical journals.

An uprising against corrupt tax officials in the province of Africa spurred locals to proclaim the provincial governor and his son as co-emperors. The Senate supported the claim, causing Maximinus Thrax to march on Rome. Forces of the governor of Numidia entered Carthage in support of Maximinus, and easily defeated the Gordians. The younger was killed in battle and the elder committed suicide by hanging on hearing news of the defeat.

After the African revolt was crushed, the Senate, fearing reprisal from Maximinus for supporting the now-dead Gordians, proclaimed Pupienus and Balbinus as new emperors and charged them with defending the capital.

The Senate elevated the 13-year-old Gordian III, grandson of Gordian I. During the subsequent siege of Aquileia, Maximinus was assassinated by his own troops. Pupienus and Balbinus ruled for 99 days before being murdered by the Praetorian Guard, leaving Gordian III the sole ruler of the empire.

The exact fate of Gordian III is unclear, but he was most likely killed at the Battle of Misiche in early 244 AD.

The Zliten mosaic

The Zliten mosaic is a Roman floor mosaic from about the 2nd century AD, found in the town of Zliten in Libya, on the east coast of Leptis Magna. It was the birthplace of Septimius Severus.

Gladitorial combat between equites, a retiarius and secutor, a thraex and murmillo, a hoplomachus and a bleeding murmillo who is appealing to the referee.

It depicts gladiatorial contests, animal hunts, and scenes from everyday life.

The mosaic was discovered in 1913 and is now on display at The Archaeological Museum of Tripoli.

Gladiatorial contests alternate with animal hunts. Across the top border musicians and combat scenes appear. Music was played during matches, accompanying the tempo of the action. Gladiators followed many rules and always fought barefoot. Across the right-hand border, there are scenes of damnatio ad bestias (execution by beasts) and venationes (staged animal hunts). The opposing borders are damaged but show more gladiatorial combat across the bottom and venationes on the left.

Silver Decadrachm of Akragas of 409-406 BC

Having trouble landing the Holy grail Silver Decadrachm of Akragas of 409-406 BC?

$2,918,000 in October 2012. The massive 42-gram masterpiece was issued to pay mercenaries. Struck from just five dies (two obverse, three reverse), about ten survivors are known. The extreme rarity was issued just before the Carthaginian destruction of the city.

For a much more reasonable 175,00 € you may obtain a hand struck silver Akragas Sicily Dekadrachm replica. Here.

Legio V Macedonica

Legio V Macedonica (the Fifth Macedonian Legion) was one of the most significant military units in Roman history. Established in 43 BC by Octavian (Augustus) it as one of the original 28 legions he raised. The legion participated in the naval Battle of Actium in 31 BC and was subsequently stationed in the province of Macedonia, where it earned its name.

Detachments were later sent to Judea to play a critical role in the First Jewish-Roman War. Legio V Macedonica holds the distinction of being the longest-lived Roman legion, spanning 680 years from the late Republic to the Arab conquests of the 7th century AD.

Roman officer's ring, 2nd-3rd century.

Trajan used Legio V Macedonica in his military campaigns against the Dacians in 101-106 AD. One of the legion's officers was the future Roman Emperor Hadrian. The legion also took part in Trajan's Parthian campaign in 115-117 AD.

Septimius Severus issued coins in honor of the 5th Macedonian Legion, which acted on his side during the year of five emperors in 193.

Under Hadrian, the legion was involved in the suppression of the Bar Kokhba revolt (132-136 AD). Under Lucius Verus, the Legio V Macedonica again fought the Parthians in 161-166 AD. The last mention of the legion dates to 635 AD, when it was a part of the army of the Eastern Roman Empire.

U.K. metal detectorist lands Vitellius gold

Ron Walters struck gold after six years of searching the same field near Dudley, West Midlands, every spring and autumn when the crops weren’t sown.

It's believed to be the first gold aureus of Vitellius to ever be recorded in the British Isles.

The very rare 1,955-year-old coin was auctioned and fetched $6,000, which was split with the field’s owner. Aulus Vitellius was Roman emperor for eight months from 19 April to 20 December AD 69. Vitellius followed the quick succession of Galba and Otho, in the Year of the Four Emperors. Suetonius in particular painted Vitellius as an obese glutton. Vitellius was executed in Rome by Vespasian's soldiers on 20 December 69. "Yet I was once your emperor," were his last words. His body was thrown into the Tiber according to Suetonius; Cassius Dio's account is that Vitellius was beheaded and his head paraded around Rome, and his wife attended to his burial. His brother and son were also killed.

Ancient Bronze

Dated to around 330 BC, the Boxer at Rest is a Hellenistic Greek sculpture of a sitting nude boxer, still wearing his caestus, a type of leather hand-wrap, at the National Museum of Rome.

The Boxer was found in 1885, possibly from the remains of the Baths of Constantine.

This bronze was found in his tomb.

'Portrait of Seuthes III' (310-300 BC). Bronze, copper, calcite, alabaster, and glass. Seuthes III ruled the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace from 331 BC to 300 BC.

“The Medici Riccardi Horse” About 350 B.C. Italian Bronze and gold.

The bronze 'Chimera of Arezzo' is one of the best known examples of the art of the Etruscans. It was found in Arezzo, an ancient Etruscan and Roman city in Tuscany, in 1553. Inscribed on its right foreleg is an inscription, TINSCVIL, showing that the bronze was a votive object dedicated to the supreme Etruscan god of day, Tin or Tinia. The statue is estimated to have been created around 400 BC.

The over-lifesize "Dancing Satyr" of Mazara del Vallo is a Greek bronze statue recovered from the sea floor at a depth of 500m (1600 ft.) off the southwestern coast of Sicily in 1998. The satyr is depicted in mid-leap, head thrown back ecstatically and back arched, his hair swinging with the movement of his head. The figure is highly refined; the whites of his eyes are inlays of white alabaster.

Artemis and the Stag is an early Roman Imperial or Hellenistic bronze sculpture of the ancient Greek goddess Artemis. In June 2007 the statue fetched $28.6 million at auction, the highest sale price of any sculpture at the time. The statue depicts Artemis, the Greek goddess of hunting and wild animals. She stands in a pose that suggests she has just released an arrow from her bow. At some point the bow was separated from the sculpture and was lost.

Zeus or Poseidon. Bronze. Ca. 460 BCE.

Alexander the Great on Horseback, 100-1 B.C., bronze and silver. Charioteer of Delphi

Victorious Athlete, "Getty Bronze" 300-100 B.C.

They are the 2,500 year-old Riace Bronzes - a pair of towering statues of naked Greek warriors. With their muscles, thick beards and manes of curling hair they are extraordinarily life-like. Their teeth are made of gleaming silver. Copper gives their lips and nipples a reddish tinge, and glass and ivory were used for their eyes.

Pyrrhic Victory

Taras or Tarentum, in Calabria, is modern Taranto in southern Italy. When the Romans broke a treaty with Taras in 282 B.C. to subdue an adjacent Greek city, Taras expelled the Roman garrison from the captured township. The Romans sought revenge.

Bust of Pyrrhos

Taras appealed for help to King Pyrrhos of Epirus in northwestern Greece. Pyrrhos embarked upon the Pyrrhic War of 280-275 B.C.E. A skilled commander, with a strong army fortified by war elephants, Pyrrhus had initial success against the Roman legions, but suffered heavy losses even in victory. 3 battles represent the origin of the phrase “Pyrrhic victory” The battle of Heraclea was a decisive victory for Pyrrhus, who employed a tight phalanx formation with elephant charges. Though the win was complete, it caused high casualties of Pyrrhus’ best troops.

The next battle of Asculum was a similar result; the Romans attempted to repulse the elephants with war wagons but failed. The Romans withdrew to higher ground. The Romans were worse off, but Pyrrhus lost thousands of men and his best officers. The battle of Beneventum was either inconclusive, a Roman victory or a victory for Pyrrhus. The Romans repulsed the elephants and send them rampaging through Pyrrhus’ lines. The result drove him from Italy and in 278 B.C.E. Pyrrhos abandoned Taras to its fate.

He returned in 275 B.C.E., but was soundly defeated and returned to Epirus. Three years later Taras was besieged and the city finally fell to the Romans.

A superbly struck example of a rare gold stater from the ancient Greek city state of Taras (Tarentum) in southern Italy, a.k.a. Calabria. The 8.55 g coin dates from 276-272 BC. The obverse shows the head of Zeus. On the reverse an eagle with wings displayed perches on a thunderbolt. $ 18,000 in VF.

EPIRUS. Pyrrhus (297–272 BC). Silver tetradrachm (16.56 gm). $60K in 2012.

After the particularly bloody Battle of Asculum in 279 BCE, Pyrrhus famously remarked: “If we are victorious in one more battle with the Romans, we shall be utterly ruined.” This would live forever in the phrase “Pyrrhic victory”. The silver tetradrachms were a high-value coin and were struck with dies engraved by the most skilled artisans.

Pyrrhos, King of Epiros, (297-272 BC.), AV Stater, 8.55g, Struck in Syracuse, 278 BC. $180k.

To pay mercenaries needed to fight the Carthaginians, Pyrrhus produced a huge issue of gold staters and half staters at Syracuse. The finest engravers were hired to produce stunning designs.