Elephants on ancient coins

Elephants have a long history of interaction with humans. The Indus Valley civilization used captive Asian elephants as early as 2000 BCE for logging, transportation and ceremonial processions.

Karshapana, or punch-marked silver coinage of India, dates from 500 BCE to ca. 300

India provides the earliest appearance of elephants on coins. Alexander the Great (336-323 B.C.), Silver dekadrachm, 5 shekels, 40.08g. Minted at Babylon, c. 327 B.C. Alexander, lance in hand and on Bucephalus, charges an elephant. This may have been an actual event during the Battle of the Hydaspes (326 BCE). Among the finest of 8 known. $300k.

African elephants appear on the reverse of rare Carthaginian coins struck in Spain from about 220 to 206 BCE, probably to pay mercenaries. The best-known elephant images on coins appears on a massive issue of Roman denarii in the name of Julius Caesar. Based on the multitude of different dies, the size of this issue is estimated at 22.5 million.

This coin sold in 2013 for $980.

In 248 CE, Rome observed it's 1000th anniversary. Emperor Philip I ('the Arab') celebrated with elaborate gladiatorial games. Exotic animals, including elephants, were brought from every corner of the empire. The games were commemorated on his coins, which survive in large numbers.

Maturing portraits of Nero

A silver cistophorus (three denarius) of 50-51 CE, portrays Nero at 13, before he became emperor. Nero, as Caesar, AR Denarius. 51-54 AD. On the reverse sacral implements of the different priests. Nero was around 18 in 54 AD.

Maturing portraits on Roman coins is rare. Few emperors began their reigns young and ruled long enough that aging can be observed in their coinage. Nero evolved dramatically from a slender youth to a heavy-set autocrat, charting his psychological shift and physical decline from age 12 to 30. Nero was the son of Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus and Agrippina the Younger, sister of Caligula. Due to his maternal family line, Nero was the great-great-grandson of  Augustus. This helped him to legitimate his position as emperor. Nero became emperor in 50 CE at age 16 due to the influence of his mother over Claudius.

Nero was 20 when this portrait appeared on silver denarii of 56-57 CE. Nero was 22 or 23 on a tetradrachm struck 59-60 CE. Nero was 25 in 62-63 CE.

Nero is infamous for brutally debasing currency and severely taxing to fund his palace, the Domus Aurea.

A menacing portrait appeared on a silver tetradrachm of 65-66 CE.

Nero is also famous for persecuting Christians and blaming them for the great fire of 64 AD. The great fire cleared the way for Nero's Domus Aurea on the Oppian Hill in the heart of ancient Rome.

This coin was struck within a year of his death in 68. He was about 30.

Artifact from Gallic Wars

An archaeological artifact from eastern France is a 2,070 year-old human bone pierced by an iron Roman spearhead. It's from the Gallic Wars. The spearhead pierced straight through the doomed warrior's bone and remained lodged there. More than 2,000 years later, archaeologists discovered the injury exactly as it occurred, preserving a brutal split-second of ancient combat. The Roman-Gallic Wars were often fought at close range with spears, swords, and shields, making severe skeletal injuries on the dead common.

Rarities at Kunker

Agrippina was one of the most influential women of the early Roman Empire. She was the offspring of Marcus Vipsanius Agrippa, the victor of Actium, and Julia, daughter of Augustus. The husband chosen for her was Germanicus, who was supposed to become Augustus’ successor. They had nine children, including future Emperor Caligula. Agrippina was exiled in 29 AD and starved herself to death on Pandataria in 33 AD. Very fine+. Estimate: 25,000 euros. Hammer price: 120,000 euros.

Most aurei of Commodus are not really rare. Commodus as Hercules Romanus are extremely rare in top condition. Künker offered such a rarity and the result was 170,000 euros.

An aureus of Postumus. He came from Gaul and established his center of power in Cologne. Coins of Postumus are among the most beautiful pieces known from the time of the Barracks Emperors. The coin features Postumus and Heracles on the obverse. The reverse shows Victoria and Felicitas, representing Postumus’ military successes. The coin made 190,000 euro in part because of its pedigree. It's ownership can reliably be traced back to 1888.

Aureui of Pescennius Niger, 193-194, are impossibly rare in any condition. When they are extremely fine/very fine+ they will find many interested collectors. Estimate: 75,000 euros. Hammer price: 220,000 euros.

Claudius

Bust of Claudius at the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Claudius (10 BC – AD 54) was Roman emperor from AD 41 to 54. He was born at Lugdunum in Gaul, the first (and until Trajan, only) Roman emperor to be born outside Italy. His maternal grandparents were Mark Antony and Octavia Minor, Augustus' sister, and he was the great-great grandnephew of Gaius Julius Caesar. He was afflicted with a limp and slight deafness due to sickness as a child, causing his family to ostracize him. Claudius's infirmity probably saved him from the fate of other nobles during the many purges of Tiberius and Caligula. He wasn't seen as a serious threat. Claudius. AV Aureus. Rome mint. Struck AD 46-47. Good VF. Est $7500, sold for $20,000.

Claudius, 41–54 aureus, 41-42, AV 7.69 gm. Extremely fine. 60'000 CHF.

His survival led to his being declared emperor by the Praetorian Guard after Caligula's assassination. He was an effective leader, remembered for initiating the successful conquest of Britain in 43 AD.

Obverse of this coin (50 CE–54 CE) portrays Claudius while the reverse portrays his wife Agrippina the Younger. Agrippina the Younger was Roman empress from AD 49 to 54, the fourth wife and niece of emperor Claudius, and the mother of Nero. Some blame her endless machinations for the end of the Julio-Claudian dynasty.

On 24 January 41, Caligula was assassinated in a broad-based conspiracy involving the Praetorian commander Cassius Chaerea and several senators. There is no evidence that Claudius had a hand in the assassination plot. In the chaos following the murder, Claudius witnessed the guard cut down several uninvolved noblemen. He fled to the palace to hide. According to tradition, a Praetorian named Gratus found him hiding behind a curtain and declared him princeps. Eventually the Senate was forced to give in again and, in return, Claudius pardoned virtually all the assassins. He ruled well and left a large treasury behind. After his death in 54 aged 63, his grand-nephew, step-son, and adopted son Nero succeeded him as emperor.

Mysteries of the ancient Maltese

At 313 sq km, Malta is one of the world’s smallest and most densely populated countries. The Mediterranean island is also home to the world’s oldest freestanding structures and oldest enduring mysteries.

Inhabited for over 7,000 years, Malta has been settled by Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines, the Muslim Emirate of Sicily, and Crusaders under the Holy Roman Empire.

The island people constructed elaborate sites, such as the Ġgantija temple complex, and their buildings are among the earliest free-standing buildings known. There is no skeletal evidence of violent death and no fortifications. Instead the society appears to have survived through cooperation and sharing. But, after 1,500 years, they were gone.

Malta’s megaliths are older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. These supersized temples date to between 5500 and 2500 BC. Soil erosion and climate conditions worsened, as evidenced by the different types of pollen in the soil, the diminishing number of tree remains and the human bones wracked with dietary deficiencies.

In the final centuries, between 2600 BC and 2400 BC, half of those dying were children.

A catastrophic climate event around 2350 BC was the final blow.

Tartarus and Elysium

Tartarus in ancient Greek mythology is the deep abyss that is used as a dungeon of torment and suffering for the wicked and as the prison for the Titans. As far below Hades as the earth is below the heavens, Tartarus is the place where, according to Plato, souls were judged after death and where the wicked received divine punishment. Tartarus was also considered to be a primordial force or deity.

According to Greek mythology, the realm of Hades is the place of the dead, but Tartarus also has a number of inhabitants. When Cronus came to power as the King of the Titans, he imprisoned the one-eyed Cyclopes and the hundred-armed Hecatonchires in Tartarus and set the monster Campe as its guard. Zeus killed Campe and released these imprisoned giants to aid in his conflict with the Titans. The gods of Olympus eventually triumphed. Cronus and many of the other Titans were banished to Tartarus.

Aegaeon the Hekantonkheires

Another Titan, Atlas, was sentenced to hold the sky on his shoulders to prevent it from resuming its primordial embrace with the Earth.

Heracles ends up building a large pillar that holds up the sky eventually freeing Atlas from his torment. Originally, Tartarus was used only to confine dangers to the gods of Olympus. In later mythologies, Tartarus became the place where the punishment fits the crime. Mythical figures such as Sisyphus, Tantalus, Ixion, Tityos and the Titan Prometheus met their fates in Tartarus. Tantalus was given eternal punishment where he was condemned to stand in a lake with fruits, but without being able to satisfy his thirst or his hunger.

In Greek and Roman mythology Elysium, also called Elysian Fields or Elysian Plain, was the paradise to which heroes on whom the gods conferred immortality were sent. In Homer’s writings the Elysian Plain was a land of perfect happiness at the end of the Earth, on the banks of the Oceanus. Earlier, only those favored by the gods entered Elysium and were made immortal.

Later Elysium was a place for the blessed dead and entrance was gained by a righteous life.

Roman Concrete

Sunken structures off the Italian coast doesn't sound impressive, but the marvel is in the material. Roman concrete, 'opus caementicium', was a material used in construction until the fading of the Roman Empire.

Roman concrete was based on a hydraulic-setting cement. Roman builders constructed seawalls and harbour piers. The concrete they used outlasted the empire. The concrete, a mixture of volcanic ash and quicklime, has withstood the sea for two millennia.

Tests revealed a rare chemical reaction, with aluminous tobermorite crystals growing out of another mineral called phillipsite. The key ingredient proved to be seawater. As seawater percolated in the cracks in the Roman concrete it reacted with phillipsite found in the volcanic rock and created tobermorite crystals.

Microscopic image shows the lumpy calcium-aluminum-silicate-hydrate (C-A-S-H) binder material that forms when volcanic ash, lime, and seawater mix. It's stronger than when it was first poured.

Caesarea Concrete Bath

The Romans mined a specific type of volcanic ash from a quarry in Italy. Modern seawalls require much steel reinforcement. The Romans didn’t use steel. Their reactive concrete was more than strong enough.

Germanicus

On this day October 10, AD 19, Germanicus died. Germanicus Julius Caesar was born on 24 May 15 BC. Germanicus was a Roman general and politician most famous for his campaigns against Arminius in Germania. He was the son of Nero Claudius Drusus and Antonia the Younger.

Germanicus was added to his full name in 9 BC when it was posthumously awarded to his father in honor of his victories in Germania. In AD 4 he was adopted by his paternal uncle Tiberius. Ten years later, Tiberius succeeded Augustus as Roman emperor. Germanicus was the father of Caligula, the maternal grandfather of Nero, and the older brother of Claudius.

During the reign of Augustus, Germanicus enjoyed an accelerated political career. He entered the office of quaestor five years before the legal age in AD 7. He held that office until AD 9 where he was made praetor. He was elected consul for the first time in AD 12. The year after, he was made proconsul of Germania Inferior, Germania Superior, and all of Gaul. He commanded eight legions, one-third of the entire Roman army at the time. Germanicus avenged the Roman Empire's defeat in the Teutoburg Forest and retrieved two of the three legionary eagles that had been lost. In AD 17, he returned to Rome, where he received a triumph.

When Augustus' chosen successor, grandson Gaius Caesar, unexpectedly died in AD 4, he considered Germanicus as his heir. His wife Livia persuaded him to choose his stepson Tiberius instead. Many historians wonder what glory might have followed Germanicus and Rome had it not been for the machinations of Livia to put her offspring on the throne.

While in the eastern provinces, Germanicus came into conflict with the governor of Syria, Gnaeus Calpurnius Piso. Piso was a high ranking Roman aristocrat and senator. He opposed the First Triumvirate, and later Julius Caesar. He fought against Caesar in the Great Roman Civil War and against his adopted son, Octavian, in the War of the Second Triumvirate; both times finding himself on the losing side. During their feud, Germanicus became ill in Antioch and died on 10 October AD 19. His death has been attributed to poison by ancient sources, but it was never proven.