Aurelian: Rome's most underrated Emperor

Lucius Domitius Aurelianus grew up in the most turbulent phase of the Crisis of the Third Century. In fifty years, twenty-six men claimed the Imperial throne. Roman emperor from 270 to 275, Aurelianus won an unprecedented series of military victories which reunited the Roman Empire after it had nearly disintegrated from barbarian invasions and internal revolts. For his success in restoring the Empire, Aurelian was honored with the title Restitutor Orbis ("Restorer of the World").

Aurelian and the personification of Sol defeat the Palmyrene Empire, and celebrates ORIENS AVG – oriens Augusti: the rising sun/star of Augustus.

He defeated the Alamanni after a devastating war. He also defeated the Goths, Vandals, Juthungi, Sarmatians, and Carpi. Aurelian restored the Empire's eastern provinces after his conquest of the Palmyrene Empire in 273. The following year he conquered the Gallic Empire in the west, reuniting the Empire in its entirety. His successes were instrumental in ending the crisis. His monetary reformation included the introduction of antoniniani containing 5% silver. They bore the mark XXI which meant that twenty one of such coins would contain the same silver quantity of an old silver denarius. The severity of the economic situation Aurelian faced came as the Emperor struggled to introduce the new "good" coin by recalling all the old "bad" coins.

An opportunity to attack the Sassanid Empire in 275 saw Aurelian set out for another campaign against the Sassanids. He would never reach Asia. A plot involving notarius Mucapor and other high-ranking officers of the Praetorian Guard, who feared punishment from the emperor, murdered him shortly after October 275.

A hoard of aureus of Aurelian were discovered as part of the Lava Treasure in Corsica, France, in the 1980s.

Empress Livia Drusilla

Empress Livia Drusilla was Roman empress from 27 BC to 14 AD as the wife of Emperor Augustus. She was known as Julia Augusta after her formal adoption into the Julian family in AD 14. "Livia: a blight upon the nation as a mother, a blight upon the house of Caesar as a stepmother". That was Tacitus's assessment of Livia Drusilla.

The historian elaborated that Livia put her husband, Emperor Augustus, under her control, and banished or had killed every potential heir to the throne in order to promote her own son, the bizzare Tiberius, as his successor. Augustus had no sons, only a daughter, Julia, the child of his first wife. His nephew Marcellus and his beloved grandsons Gaius and Lucius pre-deceased him, all under mysterious circumstances.

In 42 AD Livia was deified by Claudius.

After Augustus died in 14 AD, Tiberius became emperor. Livia continued to exert outsized political influence as the mother of the emperor. She was the great-grandmother of the emperor Caligula, grandmother of the emperor Claudius, and the great-great-grandmother of the emperor Nero. Livia is depicted as having great influence, to the extent where she "had the aged Augustus firmly under control." She died in 29 AD.

Octavian and the Battle of Actium

Emperor Augustus died on August 20 in 14 AD of natural causes while visiting Nola. He was 75. He was the founder of the Roman Empire, and reigned as the first Roman emperor from 27 BC until his death. August is named in his honour.

This aureus was made between 27 B.C. and 18 B.C. The early lifetime coin depicts the new portrait of Augustus transformed into an ageless Apollo-like figure on one side and an image of a heifer based on a long-lost masterpiece by a Greek sculptor on its reverse. 22 examples of the heifer-reverse aureus minted during the reign of Augustus are known, of which 15 are in museums. £400k

Octavian was the son of Julius Caesar's niece, Atia.  Octavian was 20 years old when he learned of Caesar's assassination. Caesar had no living legitimate children under Roman law and so had adopted Octavian, his grand-nephew, in his will, making him his primary heir. Octavian returned to Italy to avenge Caesar's murder. In 43 BCE, he formed the Second Triumvirate with Marc Antony and Lepidus. They defeated Brutus and Cassius and divided the empire, with Octavian holding most of the West and Antony the East.

Antony and Cleopatra grew closer as Octavian worked to restore Italy. In 33 BC, the Second Triumvirate ended, leaving Antony with no legal authority. Octavian began a campaign against him, declaring war against Cleopatra.

Octavian’s admiral Marcus Agrippa held Antony’s fleet back in the bay of Actium in Greece. Antony and Cleopatra escaped, leaving the rest of his men to surrender. Antony fled to Alexandria where he and Cleopatra eventually took their own lives in August, 30 BCE; this marked the end of the Roman civil wars.

This coin was minted in Rome, 13-14 AD.

Rome was officially transformed from a Republic to a Principate in January, 27 BCE. Octavian was crowned 'Augustus'. Over the next 40 years, Augustus shared his authority with the Senate. It would not be until Augustus’ coinage reform in 23 BCE that the gold aureus would come into standard use. In addition to his reorganization of the state and institutions of Rome, Augustus introduced a formal system of fixed ratios between denominations of coins.

Mummies with golden tongues unearthed in Egypt

In 2021 archaeologists unearthed 2,000-year-old mummies with golden tongues at Alexandria's Taposiris Magna temple. 16 burials in rock-cut tombs contained poorly preserved mummies. It's thought the dead were given gold foil amulets shaped like tongues so that they could speak before the court of the god Osiris in the afterlife. Osiris was lord of the underworld and judge of the dead.

Denarius showing Roman Republic citizens voting

Denarius struck under the moneyer Publius Licinius Nerva in 112 BC, British Museum Collection. A toga-clad citizen drops his voting tablet in the ballot box, while behind him another voter receives his tablet from an attendant below. Voters crossed elevated walkways or 'pontes' above their fellow citizens in order to reach the ballot box, so all could see that they had voted without any last-minute intimidation or interference. Almost all magistrates of the Republic were elected officials, voted into power by Roman citizens. There were no political parties in the republic. Candidates campaigned on their own virtue, personal or family reputation, or gifts to voters. Bribes given to voters came in the form of money, food, and games. They were a common and burdensome campaign expense.

In 119 BC, the influential tribune Gaius Marius further narrowed the pons causeway leading to the ballot box, in order to prevent any non-voters from standing on the gangway and engaging in bribery or intimidation; literally, to ensure that there was 'no room' for interference.

Rare ancients bring top dollar

The most expensive Greek coin of Künker’s Spring Auction Sales in 2022 was a Syracuse/Sicily. 16 litrae, 214-212 BC. Of the finest style, greatest rarity, utmost historical importance, on a large blank with wonderful toning. The 16 litrae coin was among one of the last issues of the free city of Syracuse before the Romans conquered it during the Second Punic War. 95,000 euros.

Punic Sicily. 5 shekel (decadrachm), around 264 BC, unknown Sicilian mint. Very rare. Very fine+. Estimate: 30,000 euros. Hammer price: 75,000 euros. The largest silver coin ever produced by Carthage weighing around 36 to 38 grams was used to pay mercenaries.

Gela/Sicily. Tetradrachm, 450-440 BC. Very fine to extremely fine. Estimate: 2,500 euros. Hammer price: 34,000 euros. The colony of Gela was founded in 680 B.C. by colonists from Crete and Rhodes. The man-faced bull represents the Greek river god Acheloos.

Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus

In 458 BC, Rome was in danger and on the brink of collapse. An invading army had trapped the Roman consul and his legion in a mountain pass. Panic spread through the city. The Senate did the only thing they could think of: they sent messengers to find a 60-year-old farmer plowing his field. He was Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. He had once been a senator, but now he worked his own four-acre plot of land. Rome made him dictator with absolute power. Total command of the army. No checks or oversight. No term limit. He accepted. Within 16 days, Cincinnatus had raised an army, marched out, surrounded the enemy, and forced their surrender. The republic was saved. He had legal authority to rule for six months.

Cloelius Gracchus, the Aequian commander, was paraded in Cincinnatus' triumphal procession. Cincinnatus resigned as dictator the same day. He took off his toga, put his work clothes on, and walked back to his farm and finished plowing the field he'd left. 20 years later, when Rome faced another crisis, they called on him again.

He was 80 years old. He took command, crushed the conspiracy, and resigned again, this time after 21 days. He died a poor man on his farm. The lesson of Cincinnatus was not his humility. The lesson is that the people most qualified to lead were the ones who didn't want to. The moment society rewards those who chase their blind ambition for power instead of those who flee from it, is the moment society begins to die. Cincinnati, Ohio is named after him. Most people have no idea why.

Golden Pectoral from Tovsta Mohyla

The Golden Pectoral from Tovsta Mohyla is a Scythian treasure discovered in a large kurgan near the city of Ordzonikidzhe in Ukraine in 1971. It probably dates to the 4th century BC, and was made by Greek goldsmiths, probably in a workshop located in Scythian lands. The pectoral is made of solid 24-carat gold, and weighs just over 1150 grams. The pectoral consists of four torques arranged in a concentric arc, forming three crescent-shaped fields.

The top section reflects daily life. The middle section is believed to represent nature. The third section is thought to represent Scythian belief in their mythology.

The Golden Pectoral is a masterpiece of Greco-Scythian metalwork.

The grave mound belonged to a high status Scythian aristocrat and despite being looted in antiquity, the Golden Pectoral from Tovsta Mohyla survived. Few objects remain due to grave robbers. The Golden Pectoral from Tovsta Mohyla remains one of the most astounding pieces of gold jewelry to ever survive from the ancient world. The high quality of filigree craftsmanship astonishes modern jewelers. All details of the 160 elements are finely detailed - feathers, muscles, ribs, hoofs, horns, and even the genitalia of the depicted creatures - are anatomically precise and meticulously exact.

Face of Alexander the Great

Artist Alessandro Tomasi has brought the long dead to living colour before.

His latest effort gives us Alexander the Great, based apon on the Lysippus bust and the Alexander Mosaic.

Ancient depictions of Alexander the Great usually show a youth. A Roman copy of a bronze made by Lysippus, Alexander’s personal sculptor, is thought to be among the best showing Alexander's true likeness.

Kingdom of Macedonia. Alexander III, 336-323 B.C. Distater

Alexander III of Macedon. Gold distater, 336-323, Macedonian mint. Very rare. About EF. Estimate: 20,000 euros. Hammer price: 70,000 euros in 2022.

A distater of Alexander III of Macedon (336-323 B.C.) was a gold coin, a larger denomination than a stater, used during his reign and shortly after his death. These high-value coins served as 'campaign currency' to pay veteran soldiers. It featured the image of the goddess Athena on the obverse and Nike, the goddess of victory, on the reverse, with the inscription "ALEXANDROU" (of Alexander).

Most Alexander distaters were melted down in ancient times as their extremely high value made them unsuitable for trade.

The distater was a gold coin weighing around 17.12 grams, representing the largest gold denomination issued under Alexander's rule. Struck during his lifetime or shortly after his death, it is a remarkable piece of ancient numismatic history. Gold distaters were issued to reward elite soldiers and finance Alexander’s campaigns. Only 3 are known in mint state.

Elagabalus

Elagabalus was a close relative to the Severan dynasty. He came from a prominent Arab family in Emesa (Homs), Syria. Elagabalus is considered among the worst emperors even though he was far less bloody than the rest.

In his early youth he served as head priest of the sun god Elagabal. After the death of his cousin Caracalla in 218, Elagabalus was raised to the principate at age 14 in an army revolt instigated by his grandmother Julia Maesa against Caracalla's short-lived successor, Macrinus. Elagabalus was assassinated and replaced by his cousin Severus Alexander in March 222.

Elagabalus quickly gained a reputation for extreme eccentricity, moral decadence, zealotry and sexual proclivity and perversion.

The assassination was again devised by Julia Maesa and carried out by the Praetorian Guard. Elagabalus 218-222 CE gold aureus. The obverse features a laureate bust of the Roman emperor Elagabalus facing left. On the reverse is a stunning scene with a quadriga moving left to right bearing the stone of Emesa with an eagle cresting the stone. The legend reads “SANCT DEO SOLI ELAGABAL” ('To the Holy Sun God El-Gabel'). This example is one of two of this type known to exist.

Ancients regarded stones that fell from the sky as manifestations of the divine. The Syrian town of Emesa (now Homs) had a temple enshrining a conical black stone that was likely a meteorite. Elagabalus' first official act was to transfer the sacred rock to Rome’s main temple, the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus on the Capitoline Hill. Elagabalus disregarded Roman religious traditions and sexual taboos. He replaced the head of the Roman pantheon, Jupiter, with the deity Elagabal. His behavior outraged the Praetorian Guard, the Senate, and the common people.

Marcus Aurelius Severus Alexander (1 October 208 – March 235), also known as Alexander Severus, was Roman emperor from 222 until 235. The last emperor from the Severan dynasty, he succeeded Elagabalus in 222, at the age of 13.

Alexander was also assassinated. His death marked the beginning of the Crisis of the Third Century, which included nearly fifty years of civil war, foreign invasion, and the further collapse of the monetary economy.

Viking gold hoard in Denmark

In 2017 three metal detectorists found the largest Viking gold hoard ever discovered in Denmark. At 900 grams, the hoard consists of seven worked bracelets, six of gold and one of silver. The silver piece weighs about 90 grams. Gold is extremely rare in the Viking record. The group found the pieces in a field in Vejen, which is in Jutland. There’s no doubt the treasure belonged to Viking elite, and the bracelets may have been used by a chief as alliance gifts, or as rewards or oath rings for his men.

A gold chain of 67 grams was found in the area in 1911. The latest find is almost certainly connected to the chain.

Viking Gold arm ring