The Lernaean Hydra is a major antagonist in Greek mythology and Roman mythology.
The 9 headed hydra was a serpentine water monster with its lair in swamps of lake Lerna. Lerna was reputed to be an entrance to the Underworld. In myth, the monster is killed by Hercules, using sword and fire, as the second of his twelve labors.
According to Hesiod, the Hydra was the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. It possessed many heads. Later versions of the Hydra story add a regeneration feature to the monster: for every head chopped off, the Hydra would regrow new heads. The Hydra had poisonous breath and blood so virulent that even its scent was deadly.
He then confronted the Hydra, wielding either a harvesting sickle, a sword, or his famed club.
Eurystheus sent Hercules to slay the Hydra, which Hera had raised just to slay Hercules. Upon reaching the swamp near Lake Lerna where the Hydra dwelt, Hercules covered his mouth and nose with a cloth to protect himself from the poisonous fumes. He shot flaming arrows into the Hydra's lair, a deep cave from which it emerged to terrorize neighboring villages.
The weakness of the Hydra was that it was invulnerable only if it retained at least one head. Realizing that he could not defeat the Hydra, Heracles called on his nephew Iolaus for help. Heracles cut off each head and Iolaus cauterized the open stumps. Seeing that Heracles was winning the struggle, Hera sent a giant crab to distract him. He crushed it under his foot. The Hydra's one immortal head was cut off with a golden sword given to Heracles by Athena.
Some Roman emperors reputation for cruelty, excess, and debauchery, enabled by unbridled power at the head of a decadent society serves as a warning of absolute power today. Roman emperors had short life expectancy after ascending to the throne. Of the 69 emperors from the accession of Augustus to the reign of Theodosius, 43 suffered a violent death.
Tiberius ruled AD 14–37. He sank into morbid suspicion of everyone around him. He retreated to the island of Capri and revived the ancient accusation of maiestas (treason) and used it to sentence to death anyone he desired. Tiberius living on Capri is recorded as a depraved sexual predator.
Tiberius Gold Aureus. Lugdunum. AU Strike 5/5 - Surface 3/5. US$11,150
Caligula ruled from 37–41 CE. He became infamous for his extreme feats of carnage. Nero was his nephew. Caligula was cruel, depraved, and insane. In January 41 CE officers of the Praetorian Guard, led by Cassius Chaerea, killed him.
Caligula, formally Gaius, Gold Aureus. Rome, A.D. 40. Laureate head of Gaius facing right, Germanicus, Caligula's father who died in A.D. 19, facing right. Au strike 5/5, surface 2/5. US$45,000.
Nero (AD 54 to 68) debased currency mercilessly and confiscated senators' property and severely taxed to fund his palace, the Domus Aurea. Rome burned for nine days in the Great Fire. Its said Nero used the fire to clear space for his palace. Nero blamed the Christians, executing thousands.
Domitian (81–96) was fearful and paranoid. Conspiracy theories consumed him, and some were true. He curtailed the Senate and expelled those he deemed unworthy. He executed officials who opposed his policies and confiscated their property. Domitian was assassinated in 96 CE, ending the Flavian dynasty.
Domitian Gold Aureus. Rome. Struck AD 90-91. Superb EF. US$29,500.
Commodus (177–192) was cruel, debauched, and a corrupt megalomaniac who viewed himself as reincarnated Greek gods. He too devalued Roman currency, instituting the largest drop in value since Nero.
Commodus Gold Aureus. Rome mint. Struck AD 183. Superb EF US$24,500
Elagabalus (218 to 222). Elagabalus's sin was not bloody, but acting unlike any Emperor. Writers told of his sexual perversion, feminity, bisexuality, and transvestism.
Elagabalus Gold Aureus. Slow quadriga moving right, on which is set the conical stone of Emesa. Very rare. Graded NGC Ch VF Strike: 5/5 Surface: 2/5. Graffito. Marks. Bent. US$20,000
Caracalla (AD 211–217) dealt brutally with opponents: he exterminated all of them. Caracalla quickly turned the surplus he inherited from his father into a deficit. He was assassinated by a group of army officers, including Praetorian prefect Opellius Macrinus.
Caracalla Gold Aureus. Rome mint. Struck AD 213. Near EF. Extremely rare and important. Caracalla renovated the Circus Maximus in AD 213, and rare aurei and sestertii were issued to celebrate. This aerial view depicts the Circus as it would be seen from the Palatine Hill. US$140,000
Diocletian (AD 284–305) conducted a ruthless persecution of Christians. Diocletian set about it's total eradication. Churches were destroyed, scriptures burnt, and Christians who refused to give up their faith were tortured and executed.
Diocletian Gold Aureus. Grade NGC Ch AU Strike: 5/5 Surface: 4/5, edge marks. US$20,000
Lore suggested Vikings used special crystals to navigate under cloudy skies. The crystal of legend was locked in the verses of Norse myth with no evidence that it was real.
Now scientists believe that the 'Viking Sunstone' or 'Viking Compass' did exist. Though none have ever been found at Viking archaeological sites, a crystal was uncovered in a British shipwreck proving they existed.
The crystal was found in the wreckage of the Alderney, an Elizabethan warship that sank near the Channel Islands in 1592. The stone was discovered near a pair of navigation dividers.
A chemical analysis confirmed that the stone was Icelandic Spar, or calcite crystal, the Vikings' mineral of choice for their sunstones, first mentioned in the 13th-century Viking saga of Saint Olaf. Today, the crystal would be useless for navigation, because it has been abraded by sand and clouded by magnesium salts. But in better days, such a stone would have bent light in a very helpful way.
The rhombohedral shape of calcite crystals refract or polarize in such a way as to create a double image. This means that if you looked at someone's face through a clear chunk of Icelandic spar, you would see two faces. If the crystal is turned to the right position, the double image becomes a single image. Then you know the crystal is pointing east to west.
Authors say the crystal could be used to determine the sun's location with an accuracy of one degree, even when it was invisible to the naked eye. Sunstones helped Norse mariners navigate their way to Iceland and onwards to North America.
At the battle of Philippi, Octavian vowed to avenge the assassination of Caesar. Mars is the Roman equivalent of Ares, the god of war in Greek mythology. Under Augustus, the worship of Mars gained a new prominance; not only was Mars the traditional guardian of the military affairs of the Roman state but, as Mars Ultor ('Mars the Avenger'), he became the personal guardian of the emperor in his role as avenger of Caesar.
Octavian set plans in motion to build a temple honoring Mars Ultor 'the Avenger'. While Rome had succeeded in conquering most of the civilized world, they had never succeeded against Parthia. The Parthian Empire was spread across Central Asia and posed a formidable challenge. Rome fought and lost to Parthia three times, the most devastating in 53 BCE. Crassus, the leader of the Roman army, was killed and Rome was humiliated, with the Roman standards of the Legions lost to the Parthians.
Carrhae was a horrible defeat for the Romans; Crassus was Rome’s richest man. The Parthians captured him and allegedly had him killed by pouring molten gold down his throat. The loss of a legion's standard the Aquilae (Eagle) was taken as a huge moral defeat.
Romans would spend decades fighting to recover them. Julius Caesar and Mark Antony both attempted to reclaim the Roman standards by force but failed due to heavy battlefield losses. After ascending the throne, Augustus wanted to reclaim them. Through conquering Armenia, he was able to secure a strong offensive position against the Parthians. The Parthian king felt threatened, and proposed a truce to Augustus, offering to return the Roman standards and any surviving prisoners of war. Augustus agreed and hailed the return of the Roman standards as a major victory against the Parthians. He used coinage to celebrate his triump. Although promised in 42 BCE, the temple’s construction only began in 20 BCE. The Temple of Mars Ultor was constructed in Augustus’ new forum and paid for using the spoils of war.
Objects inside the temple included the standards and Augustus’ chariot. (often shown with a legionary eagle.) Coins showing the Temple are sometimes labelled MAR VLT.
Silver denarius of Augustus, minted in Spain 19-18 BCE. The statue of Mars is also shown holding an aquila and the standards.
Archaeologists near the coastal town of Binyamina unearthed two well-preserved marble busts from the Roman era, hidden face-down in the pit of an ancient winepress.
The excavation uncovered a sprawling Byzantine-era wine-production complex with treading floors, filtration basins and collection pits for fermenting grape juice.
On the last day the team found the statues. They stand about 55 centimeters (22 inches) tall and weigh roughly 60 kilograms (132 pounds) each. One protome bears a Greek inscription with the name of Lycurgus (most commonly associated with Sparta). The bust could represent Lycurgus of Athens.
A second mystery concerns how the busts arrived in Binyamina hundreds of years after they were created.
By late antiquity, as Christianity became the dominant religion, pagan temples and monuments were vandalized or destroyed. Statues associated with the Greco-Roman world were frequent targets.
The Scythians, renowned as fierce warriors, skilled horsemen and archers, held their swords in high esteem. The Scythian sword, known as the akinakes (or acinaces), is an iconic, double-edged short sword or dagger used by generations of Scythian warriors. The Scythian sword was deeply revered, both as a practical weapon and a spiritual artifact.
This sword with a gold tip scabbard was found by archaeologists in 2019 at Mount Mamai. (Mamai Hora in Ukrainian) Mamai Hora is an extensive burial site.
A skeleton belonged to a young man aged 18-20. The objects lying nearby indicated he was a Scythian warrior and horseman. The archeologists discovered an iron axe, bronze and bone arrows, and bridle buckles. The prize was his gold-plated akinakes. Experts date the burial to the 6th century B.C.
The youth was buried next to a much larger grave of an older man, looted in antiquity.
Ancient Roman coins were made out of round discs of flat pressed metal, known as ‘mints’. That word is another from the Romans. There were two methods initiating the minting process, the coins could either be made by cold striking metal or hot striking.
Roman die used in striking coins. It has a silver denarius of Tiberius still lodged in it. The reverse die, made of a hard bell-metal, was rendered useless by the stuck denarius. The mint worker tried to dislodge the coin, as marks show, before discarding the die. Estimated $15,000, it sold for $50,000 in 2009.
Official coin dies were subject to strict security to avoid counterfeiting and were destroyed at the end of their short lifespan. Stealing a coin die would result in certain painful death. The die came from the Roman mint at Lugdunum. While forger’s dies have survived from Roman times, only a handful of 'official' coin dies are known to exist. French researchers determined that 12 coin dies are official mint products; 11 of these are from the imperial mint of Lugdunum (modern Lyon) in France.
Dies were made of bronze and iron and engraved with all of the details wanted on the coin. These were pounded onto the mint to leave an imprint. For the different images on each side, the obverse and reverse, a hinged die was used. One image was attached to the top and one to the bottom, allowing for an efficient process where the flattened mint was placed between the dies, then clamped shut and pounded to transfer the images.
Die engravers (sculptores) were highly skilled artisans who engraved the negative images (obverse and reverse) in hardened bronze or iron. A continuous supply of new dies was required. Many errors occurred while striking the coins.
Julius Caesar Denarius, struck in January 44 B.C. The first time a Roman leader appeared on coinage.
The minting process started with the raw material. In many cases this was an alloy. For silver, using the wrong alloy generated quality problems. The striking team comprised a worker (suppostor) who placed the blank on the lower die, an aligner (signator) held the upper and lower dies in place, and a striker (malleator) hammered the top die to transfer the design.
Minted in 46 BCE by the moneyer T. Carisius, this specific denarius is one of the most highly sought-after artifacts for understanding Roman coin making and metallurgy. It offers a direct, visual blueprint of the ancient coining process. Its reverse depicts ancient coining, showcasing an anvil, tongs, a hammer, and a garlanded die.
In 2012, archaeologists in Southern Turkey discovered a well-preserved mosaic featuring a skeleton with bread and a pitcher of wine. The inscription reads in Greek “Be cheerful and live your life.” Dating to the 3rd century BCE, the mosaic adorned the dining room of a wealthy villa in the ancient city of Antioch. The mosaic was excavated during construction in Hatay Province and is now housed at the Hatay Archaeology Museum in Turkey. While scholars argued about the translation, a common theme, some pointed to the mosaic beside the skeleton.
TRECHEDEIPNOS with AKAIROS below it. The first word is used referring to human parasites. AKAIROS is something like ‘ill-timed’ or ‘pesky’. Staring at a sundial (he is late) he's rushing so much that he lost a shoe.
Sadly the third mosaic was damaged beyond recognition. The sentiment being expressed is not as obvious as it's made out to be. It seems the true message is more akin to Solon’s warning to Croesus to count no man happy until they’re dead.
The Year of the Four Emperors, 69 AD, was a year of the Roman Empire in which four emperors ruled in succession: Galba, Otho, Vitellius, and Vespasian. On June 9, 68 AD, Nero was tried in absentia and condemned to death. He met death at his servant's hand, thereby attaining the distinction of being the first Roman Emperor to nearly commit suicide. The four most influential generals in the Empire successively vied for imperial power. Galba was unable to establish his authority. Otho murdered Galba on 15 January with the help of the Praetorian Guard.
Galba - US$64,400
Otho US$191,500 (2005)
Otho faced Vitellius, who had been acclaimed by the legions of the Rhine on 1 January 69. Vitellius won the First Battle of Bedriacum on 14 April. Otho committed suicide the next day. Vespasian was legate of Syria. Vespasian's legions were victorious at the Second Battle of Bedriacum on 24 October. Vitellius was subsequently killed by a mob on 20 December.
Vitellius - Very rare, 10 known. US$43,800
Vespasian US$13,600
Vespasian brought stability to the empire. After his death in 79, he was succeeded by his eldest son Titus, thus becoming the first Roman emperor to be directly succeeded by his own natural son.
Titus (79-81) - Aureus (7,35 g), Rome Mint, 79. $22,000 EUR in 2020.
Titus, born December 30, 39, was the eldest son of Vespasian. He followed his father to Judea, where he was legate of the XV Apollinaris legion. After the proclamation of Alexandria, Vespasian left the pacification of Judea to Titus. After the capture of Jerusalem in the summer of 70, he celebrated the triumph with his father in January 71 in Rome. He succeeded him on his death June 24, 79. The reign of Titus is a series of disasters: the eruption of Vesuvius on August 24, 79 which destroyed Pompeii and Herculaneum, then the fire of Rome in 80.
Titus died in 81, perhaps assassinated at the instigation of his brother, Domitian (Suetonius).
