The Kushan

Roman denarii were the first gold coins to appear in India, which had only previously seen copper and silver coins. Soon the Indian rulers of the day, the Kushan, copied the idea. Kushans, an Indo-European tribe who roamed the Asian steppes, expanded their empire into India in the 1st century AD. By the time they reached India, the Kushan culture was a rich blend of Chinese, Iranian, Afghan, Greek and Indian customs, beliefs and modes of dress.

Much of what we know about the mysterious Kushans comes from studying their coinage, which is rich with symbolism. Vima Kadphises was the first to mint gold coins. His gold distater, or double-dinar, weighs in at 15.95 grams, twice the weight of the only other widely circulating gold coin of the time, the Roman aureus. His coin features the Hindu pantheon, but it also depicts the Buddhist triaratna (“three jewels”) symbol. Kushan: Vasudeva I Gold dinar with 3-headed Siva

Viking coin hoard found by cops in UK

A haul of Viking coins worth £500,000 uncovered during a police raid could “change British history”, according to a leading historian. Police seized the hoard of coins and a solid silver bar from properties in County Durham and Lancashire during an investigation. The items include coins from the reign of Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, and Ceolwulf II of Mercia. King Alfred inflicted a major defeat on the Vikings in AD 878. Experts believe the coins belong to an undeclared hoard from the Viking army at that time. Alfred the Great created a unified kingdom of England.

Alfred the Great

Ice Age wolf found perfectly preserved in Russian permafrost

Scientists said it was an adult, about 25 per cent bigger than today's wolves.

Russian scientists have found the head of an Ice Age wolf perfectly preserved in the Siberian permafrost. The wolf, which died 40,000 years ago, was discovered in the Russian Arctic region of Yakutia. It is so well preserved that its fur, teeth, brain and facial tissue are largely intact. The animal belonged to an ancient subspecies of wolf that lived at the same time as the mammoths and became extinct alongside them.

Famous Mythological Creatures

The Kraken. In Scandinavian mythology, the Kraken is a giant sea creature that attacks ships and is so huge that its body could be mistaken for an island. Accounts of the Kraken are believed to have originated from sightings of the giant squid, which can reach 18 meters in length.

The Griffin is a legendary creature with the head and wings of an eagle, and the body, tail, and hind legs of a lion. While griffins are common in the art and mythology of Ancient Greece, representations of griffins in ancient Persia and ancient Egypt date to as early as the 4th millennium BC. On Crete, archaeologists have uncovered depictions of griffins in the Bronze Age Palace of Knossos dating to the 15th century BC.

Medusa was a Greek monster. She had the face of an ugly woman with snakes instead of hair; anyone who looked into her eyes was immediately turned to stone. She was a priestess of Athena, devoted to a life of celibacy; however as punishment for marrying Poseidon she was cursed. Medusa was beheaded by the hero Perseus, who used her head as a weapon until he gave it to the goddess Athena to place on her shield. In classical antiquity the image of the head of Medusa appeared in the evil-averting device known as the Gorgoneion.

The Banshee is a spirit creature originating in Irish folklore. She is said to scream when someone is about to die. The foretelling of death was seen as both a blessing and a curse. The Bean Sidhe or Banshee haunts only the families of authentic noble stock and it is with great dread when her piercing "caoine" or keening is heard. The Banshee scream is always a death omen.

Mermaids. In ancient Syrian folklore there was a goddess named Atargatis. She was a fertility goddess whose cult eventually spread to Greece and Rome and was associated with water. Often depicted in mermaid form, Atargatis is perhaps the “original” mermaid. A Melusine, or siren, has two tails. This creature is from medieval legend. A Melusine was a beautiful woman that transformed into a serpent from the waist down while bathing. This always resulted in calamity.

Ancient Gold

The ancient Egyptians believed their gods had skin made from gold. The Aztec word for gold, teocuitlatl, literally translates as “excrement of the gods.” Gold has always had a very special relationship with humans. We may find ancient views quaint, but scientists have also struggled to fully understand the origins of gold. It was a puzzle how gold came into existence in the first place. The answer only arrived in 2017 with the first ever detection of gravitational waves. Those waves were produced by the merger of two neutron stars in an event known as a kilonova.

The source of the gravitational waves contained the signatures of gold and platinum in significant quantities. At long last, humans had discovered the cosmic deity capable of excreting gold.

Roman Gold set for auction - Allectus - $700k

A metal detectorist found a gold coin in Kent with the image of the Roman Emperor Allectus with two kneeling captives at the feet of the god Apollo on the obverse. In power from 293 to 296 AD, Allectus was one of two Roman emperors who ruled Britannia and northern Gaul as an independent nation between 286 and 296 AD. The British Museum owns the only other known example of an Allectus aureus, and no one has discovered a coin bearing his visage in 50 years.

The coin was estimated to sell for between $90,000 and $127,000. Warring bidders pushed that to $700k.

A bronze antoninianus coin of Allectus is notable for the history it reflects. The coin was offered March 11 where it realized a hammer price of €550 ($618 U.S.) against a pre-sale estimate of €200 ($225 U.S.). Slender and shallow ships were used in Roman rivers until late antiquity and played a significant military role. The ship was easy to navigate and thus sailors could be trained quickly. Each carried 50 men, with 30 of them rowing.

The Prince of Prittlewell

Sometime during the late 6th century, an Anglo-Saxon royal was laid to rest in a lavish tomb. He was buried with amazing treasures. 1,400 years later, the remains of the royal tomb was discovered next to a pub and a grocery store in the Essex town of Prittlewell.

The Museum of London Archaeology (MOLA) published a trove of new research into the find, and launched an interactive version of the burial chamber. The identity of the Prince of Prittlewell may never be known with certainty. One theory suggests the tomb belonged to Sæberht, once King of Essex, who is known to have been an early Anglo-Saxon convert to Christianity.

Two small gold-foil crosses found at the head of the coffin were placed over the eyes of the deceased.

See ----->1,400-year-old tomb found in U.K.

Choice Tiberius aureus among Heritage offerings

Tiberius (AD 14-37). AV aureus. NGC Choice AU★ 5/5 - 4/5. Lugdunum.

Heritage again offers spectacular ancients. The Tiberius opens at $ 8k.

Severus Alexander (AD 222-235). AV aureus. NGC Choice MS★ 5/5 - 5/5.

The auction is crowned by a Mint State example of the famed Lydian ‘Light Series’ Stater, introduced under the rule of Croesus.

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Russian farmer unearths unusual 2,000-year-old skeleton

The rich grave yielded gold and silver jewellery, weaponry, valuables and artistic household items. They were found next to a chieftain’s skeleton in a grave close to the Caspian Sea in southern Russia. Among the bodies is a “laughing” young man with an artificially deformed egg-shaped skull and excellent teeth.

A gold and turquoise horse head

The burial is believed to belong to a leader of a Sarmatian nomadic tribe that dominated this part of Russia until the 5th century AD.

Roman military victories on Rarities

Coins served as the messenger and message in ancient times. The Armenia Capta gold aureus of Lucius Verus, issued in A.D. 163 in Rome made 14,000 Swiss francs ($13,963 U.S.) against an estimate of 7,500 francs. In 163, the Roman general Marcus Statius Priscus invaded Armenia and captured the capital Artaxata. The second coin was issued in Rome, sometime in early 218. It features a bust of Macrinus on the obverse, and the reverse shows Victory seated. The reverse proclaims a victory over the Parthians, which is ironic, since Macrinus agreed to a humiliating peace treaty. 20,000 Swiss francs ($19,946 U.S.) against an estimate of 5,000 francs.