Elite Scythian gold

A gold necklace placed in an elite Scythian burial more than 2,300 years ago carries a miniature world that archaeologists may have misunderstood for decades. The necklace comes from the North Tomb of the Oguz burial mound, a major Scythian funerary monument of the fourth century BCE. Best assessments have proposed dates around 350–320 BCE. A new study argues that the winged figures hanging from the necklace are women with the bodies of bees. At the center of the sits another unexpected figure: a tiny female head wearing a Phrygian cap, a detail that may identify her as an Amazon.

The craftsmanship matches the social/royal status of the grave. The necklace contains 84 beads made by soldering together two halves.

Nero's Domus Aurea

The Domus Aurea (Latin, 'Golden House') was a vast complex built by Nero in the heart of ancient Rome after the great fire in 64 AD.

Spanning the Palatine, Esquiline, and Caelian hills, it featured gold-leaf ceilings, artificial lakes, and an octagonal dining room with a rotating dome. Nero micro-managed details. Nero's Domus Aurea is estimated to cost 50 million sesterces to build in 68 AD. 50 million sesterces in 68 AD was a mind-boggling sum. It would be equivalent to billions in modern purchasing power.

Nero placed mosaics, previously restricted to floors, in the vaulted ceilings. The Golden House was a severe embarrassment to Nero’s successors. It was stripped of its marble, its jewels and its ivory within a decade. Soon after Nero’s death, the palace and grounds were filled with earth and built over: the Baths of Titus were already being built over part of the site in 79 AD.

At the entrance, Nero placed his Colossus. Roughly 35m tall and made of bronze, The Colossus of Nero depicted the emperor as the sun god Sol, crowned with rays of light. Moved and modified by subsequent emperors, only the brick and concrete foundations of the Colossus survive. The bronze was melted down.

The palace’s grounds included a large artificial lake (the stagnum). After Nero's death, Flavian emperors drained the lake and built the Colosseum over it.

The monument left an enduring legacy: the Flavian Amphitheatre situated next to it was nicknamed the Colosseum due to its proximity to the statue.

The Domus Aurea complex covered parts of the slopes of the Palatine, Esquiline, Oppian and Caelian hills. Its size can only be approximated, as much of it has never been excavated. Some scholars place it at over 300 acres. In 2019 they found a secret, underground room inside Nero’s palace.

Decline of Roman coinage

The decline of Roman coinage was driven by currency debasement.

Emperors progressively reduced the precious metal content in coins. This brought severe inflation and the erosion of trust as people recognized the lower intrinsic value of the coin. This weakened the entire Roman economic order. The debasement of coinage was a major contributor to Rome's decline and fall. For the first 90 years of the Roman Empire the purity of Rome’s silver coinage was 98% or higher. That standard was kept by emperors Augustus, Tiberius (14-37), Caligula (37-41) and Claudius (41-54), and the first decade of Nero's reign (54-68). The Great Fire of Rome in 64 marked the start of a debasement that brought Rome’s silver coinage to unfathomable depths.

Nero took the easiest path to raising cash – re-coining old money. Nero's reformed coinage was created by recycling older, purer silver, with Republican denarii targeted for reminting. Nero reduced the weight of the silver denarius from 1/84th of a Roman pound to 1/96th, lowering its silver content from 98% to 93%.

A pre-reform denarius of Nero, about 98% pure silver.

At the same time the weight of the denarius fell 12.5%, further reducing silver content. Nero reduced the weight of aurei from 7.8 g to 7.3 g. Post-reform denarius of Nero, about 93% silver.

Nero was overthrown in 68, giving rise to the Year of Four Emperors in 69. Vespasian (69-79), reduced the purity of the denarius to about 90%.

In 107 Trajan (98-117) reduced the purity of the denarius to 88%. From there the purity slid until 148, when Antoninus Pius (138-161) removed 5%. The denarius was now about 84% or 83% pure. The denarius reached about 71% purity near the end of the reign of Commodus (177-192) The aureus was now 7.15 to 7.30 gm.

Under Septimius Severus (193-211) the purity of the denarius dropped to about 57%. Over the next four decades, the purity of imperial silver coinage continued to slide, dropping steadily until it had reached about 41% purity under Trajan Decius (249-251). Under Trebonianus Gallus (251-253) and Aemilian (253), it sank to about 35% pure. By 268, the double-denarius had slid to a silver content of 5% or less – in some cases dropping to about 2.5%. The "silver" coin was effectively copper with a thin, easily worn-off plating.

Domitian and Domitia

Today, September 14, 81 AD Domitian became Emperor of the Roman Empire upon the death of his brother Titus. Titus died of a sudden fever, although Domitian is suspected by writers of poisoning him. Domitian was Roman emperor from 81 to 96.

The son of Vespasian and the younger brother of Titus was the last member of the Flavian dynasty. Emperor Domitian and Empress Domitia Longina formed one of the most tumultuous power couples in ancient Rome. Their marriage, political alliance, and Domitian's reign culminated in palace intrigue, betrayal, and death. Aureus features Emperor Domitian on the obverse and his wife, Domitia Longina, on the reverse. It was minted in Rome around 82–83 AD.

Domitia, the daughter of general Gnaeus Domitius Corbulo, was forced to divorce her first husband, Lucius Aelius Lamia, to marry Domitian in AD 70. In AD 83, Domitian banished Domitia over an alleged affair with the actor Paris. Domitian soon brought Domitia back to Rome and restored her status as Empress. Domitian grew increasingly paranoid and began executing members of his inner circle. Domitia was tipped off that her own name was on his execution list. To save herself, she is widely believed to have played an active role in the palace conspiracy that resulted in his murder.

Domitian was assassinated on September 18, 96 AD, at the age of 44. He was stabbed to death in his palace by a group of court officials, servants, and the Praetorian prefects. The relieved senate rejoiced at his death and immediately subjected him to a damnatio memoriae. He was succeeded the same day by his advisor Nerva. Domitia retired and died around 130 AD at age 77. Domitia. Augusta, AD 82-96. Denarius (silver, 3.57 gm), Rome, 82-83. Estimate CHF 10,000. Sold For CHF 19,500 in 2010. Due to her controversial life and later role in the plot against Domitian, Domitia coins became rare. Surviving coins in good condition are highly valued with most in museums.

The Circus Maximus

In AD 121, on the anniversary of Rome's founding, Hadrian inaugurated new games and chariot races at the Circus Maximus. A rare aureus commemorates the event, providing an absolute date of 874 years since the founding of Rome.

The coin depicts the Genius of the Circus Maximus holding a chariot wheel while reclining around the three-pointed metae (the turning posts that mark either end of the spina) of the Circus Maximus, accompanied by the accompanying legend: ANN. DCCCLXXIIII NAT. VRB. P. CIR. CON. ann(is) dccclxxiiii nat(ali) urb(is) P(rimum) cir(censes) con(stituti) Year 874 Since the Birth of the City; First Circus Games Established.

The crucible of Roman chariot racing was the Circo Massimo, or Circus Maximus. Chariot racing was fast and dangerous. According to the historian Livy, the inaugural events and wooden seating were instituted by Tarquinius Priscus in the sixth century BC. Julius Caesar gave the Circus Maximus its iconic shape in the first century BC by greatly extending the racing track and seating capacity.

At its largest, the Circus Maximus reached a length of 621 metres and 190 metres in width. It had three tiers of seating, with the lowest, nearest the action, reserved for the elite. It's said the Circus Maximus could accommodate over 100,000 spectators. Located in the valley between the Palatine and Aventine hills, the arena had many additions over the centuries and major rebuilds. Greek historian Dionysius of Halicarnassus called it “one of the most beautiful” structures in Rome.

Races began when the sponsor dropped his napkin and ended seven laps later. A race consisted of 13 turns of the spina, totalling seven laps of the Circus Maximus, run counterclockwise. Those who didn't get maimed or killed and finished in the top three won prizes. Crashes were called naufragia ('shipwreck'). Drivers who became entangled in a crash risked being trampled or dragged along the track by their horses. Most commonly raced were four-horse chariots, known as quadrigae. Drivers (aurigae) wrapped the reins around their waists to steer with weight shifts, holding a knife (falx) to cut themselves free if needed. The two middle horses provided the primary pulling power, while the outer horses were steered.

Life expectancy of the highly paid aurigae was short.

Caracalla. AD 198-217. AV Aureus Rome mint. Struck AD 213. Near EF. Extremely rare with 4 known and an important architectural type. Est $75,000. Sold for $140,000.

Trajan's Circus Maximus Sestertius. (c. 103–111 AD) Viewed from the nearby Forum Boarium, the coin offers rich detail.

The daric

The Achaemenid Empire ruled over much of the Middle East from 550 to 330 BCE.

Coinage was issued from the mint of Sardis and consisted of the silver siglos and the gold daric. This is the bimetallic monetary standard by the Achaemenid Empire, copied from Croesus. The coins remained basically unchanged for over two hundred years. The daric was a high-purity gold coin of 8.4 grams based on the ancient Babylonian shekel. It was a month’s pay for a mercenary. One daric exchanged for 20 silver sigloi.

When Cyrus the Great (550–530) came to power, coinage was unfamiliar in his realm. Cyrus the Great introduced coins to the Persian Empire after 546 BCE, following his conquest of Lydia and the defeat of its king Croesus, whose father Alyattes had put in place the first bi-metal coinage in history. The staters had a weight of 10.7 grams, a standard initially created by Croesus.

Hoards of the international trade coin have been found from Sicily to Afghanistan. The daric is one of the few coins mentioned in the Old Testament. There are 4 main types of daric. There are few survivors of the type 1 and type 2 coins, making them extremely valuable. The Type 3 daric is by far the most common. Dated from around 485 to 420 BCE, there are several variants. Condition determines value. The rare Type IV daric, dated c. 455-420, shows the king holding a short dagger rather than a spear.

Even more rare and valuable are “double darics” which continued to be struck under Alexander the Great at Babylon for a short time after the fall of the Persian empire. The example shown made $50k in 2015.

Spectacular Ancient Bronze

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

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

“Portrait of Seuthes III” (310-300 B.C.), Greek. Bronze, copper, calcite, alabaster, and glass. Seuthes III was a ruler of the Odrysian kingdom of Thrace from 331 BC to ca. 300 BC. This bronze was found in his tomb. “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 thought to have been made 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 in its history, the bow was separated from the sculpture and was lost.

Alexander the Great on Horseback, 100-1 B.C., bronze and silver. Victorious Athlete, "The Getty Bronze" 300-100 B.C.

Statue of Athene (“The Peiraeus Athena”). Bronze. 340—330 BCE

The Artemesium ZeusThe horses of St Mark's Basilica. 2nd or 3rd century AD.

The Riace Bronzes (The Riace Warriors) Around 460 BC.