Pyrrhic Victory

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. Taras or Tarentum, in Calabria, is modern Taranto in southern Italy.

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.

Masada

Masada is one of the most visited sites in Israel. It contains ancient palaces and fortifications located on top of an isolated rock plateau overlooking the Dead Sea.

Masada (‘fortress’ in Hebrew) became known for its significance in the First Jewish-Roman War. In the first century A.D. a thousand Jewish rebels took over the fortress and were surrounded by the Roman army, which left behind the most complete siege works in the world. When defeat was imminent, the rebels chose to commit suicide.

The fortress was built during the time of King Herod between 37 and 31 BCE. The eastern side of the rock falls in a sheer drop of about 450m to the Dead Sea basin, the lowest point on earth.

In 73 CE, the Roman governor of Judaea, Lucius Flavius Silva commanded the Roman legion X Fretensis and laid siege to Masada.

Roman Emperor Vespasian, who reigned from 69 to 79 AD.

The Roman legion surrounded Masada, built a circumvallation wall and then a siege ramp against the western face of the plateau. Remnants of one of the legionary camps of X Fretensis at Masada, outside the circumvallation wall.

The inscription reads IVDEA CAPTA. Coins inscribed Ivdaea Capta (Judea Captured) were issued throughout the Empire

The ramp was complete in the spring of 73, after several months of siege, allowing the Romans to breach the wall of the fortress with a battering ram. When Roman troops entered the fortress, they discovered that its 960 inhabitants had set all the buildings but the food storerooms ablaze and committed mass suicide or killed each other. Only two women and five children were found alive.

The Sicarii were a splinter group of the Jewish Zealots who, in the decades preceding Jerusalem's destruction in 70 CE, heavily opposed the Roman occupation of Judea. The Sicarii carried sicae, or small daggers, concealed in their cloaks. At public gatherings, they pulled out these daggers to attack Romans and sympathizers alike, blending into the crowd after. The Sicarii were one of the earliest forms of an organized assassination unit.

Tyrant of ancient Rome Commodus

Commodus (161 – 192), born Lucius Aurelius Commodus, was Roman Emperor from AD 180 to 192. He ruled as co-emperor with his father Marcus Aurelius from 177 until his father's death in 180.

Commodus as Hercules

Holding a huge club to beat his enemies, Commodus wears a lion skin in a marble portrait bust made in the second century AD, which is one of the treasures of Rome’s Capitoline Museum. The portrait equates the strength of Hercules with the power of the emperor. The son of the respected Marcus Aurelius took control of the Roman empire and embarked on a career of bizarre, erratic behavior and monstrous cruelty. He enjoyed executing his enemies and perceived enemies personally.

Commodus fought in the arena, killing gladiators with his own hands, a spectacle Romans found shameful.

His misrule precipitated civil strife that ended 84 years of stability and prosperity. His accession marked the descent "from a kingdom of gold to one of iron and rust" – a famous comment which has led historians to take Commodus' reign as the beginning of the decline and end of the Roman Empire. Commodus would go on to claim to be the son of Jupiter, the supreme god of the Roman pantheon.

He viewed himself in megalomaniacal proportions.

In November 192, Commodus held Plebeian Games, in which he shot animals with arrows and javelins every morning, and fought as a gladiator every afternoon, winning all of his bouts easily as his opponents always submitted. For each appearance in the arena, he charged the city of Rome a million sesterces, a vast sum. (250,000 denarii)

He announced his intention to inaugurate the year 193 as both consul and gladiator. His foes had enough. They poisoned his food but he vomited it up; so the conspirators sent his wrestling partner Narcissus to strangle him.

Upon his death, the Senate declared him a public enemy. (damnatio memoriae)

A rare aureus of Commodus was sold in 2019. Dating to 178 AD and struck in Rome, it made 25,000 euros.

Judaea Capta

Judaea Capta coinage was a series of commemorative coins originally issued by Vespasian to celebrate the capture of Judaea. Coins inscribed Ivdaea Capta (Judea Captured) were issued throughout the Empire. Issued by Roman Emperors Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian to celebrate the victory over the Jewish revolt and the destruction of Jerusalem's Second Temple in 70 CE, they were struck for 25 years in gold, silver, and bronze.

The Great Revolt between the Romans and the Jews in 63 CE occured when Roman governor Gessius Florus looted the Second Temple. After the capture of Jerusalem, the last rebels committed suicide at Masada. In 69 CE, Galba, the governor of Hispania (Spain), rebelled against Nero and Rome saw the 'year of 4 emperors'. Vespasian levied the punitive Fiscus Judaicus tax against all five million of his Jewish subjects.

Vespasian. AU Aureus (7.05 g), AD 69-79. ‘Judaea Capta’ type.

Vespasian then began striking vast numbers of Judaea Capta coins in all denominations. One element of the Judaea Capta imagery is a group of military trophies. Captured weapons and armor hung from a tree or post represents a military victory over the defeated enemy.

The First Jewish Revolt (66–73/74 CE), was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews of Judaea Province against the Roman Empire.

An extremely rare shekel produced in Year 4 plus the ultimate rarity–a Year 5 shekel. The Second Revolt was circa 132-135 CE.

Very rare Judaea Capta type gold aureus features a Roman trophy with the inscription DE IVDAEIS (Latin - "concerning the Jews") Extremely rare hybrid features the strange legend IVDAEA AUGUST.

Titus, AD 79-81. Gold Aureus. A true rarity, the date is early in AD 70, which places it before or during the siege of Jerusalem (May-September 70). Roman Emperor Galba ruled for eight months from AD 68 to 69

Ancient Gold in Kazakhstan - 'Golden Man' of Saka

The discovery from the 'Yeleke Sazy' burial mound in 2020 was that of a 17-to-18-year-old noble, dressed in gold. The finds date to the 7th or 8th century BC. The garments and boots of the young man were embroidered with gold beads. There was a 1 kg gold torc on his neck.

He had a golden dagger and a golden quiver.

In ancient Persian sources, ‘Saka’ is used interchangeably with ‘Scythians’, although ‘Saka’ is generally attributed to the easternmost peoples.

The finds are from the Tarbagatai district of East Kazakhstan. The discovered gold bears evidence of cutting-edge technology. The finds suggest that people of that time had developed metallurgical expertise; mining, ore concentration, and smelting.

Discovered in the burial of Alike Sazy were arrow tips made of bronze. The artifacts are extremely well preserved and still remain sharp. These arrows were likely used for ritual purposes or as grave goods.

Grave of princess of Ukok

The Princess of Ukok