The Holzthum Hoard

Archaeologists in Luxembourg unearthed a stash of Roman gold coins. The coins span nine Roman emperors who reigned during the fourth and fifth centuries—including Eugenius, an illegitimate usurper who ruled the Western Roman Empire for just two years. Coins were excavated at an archaeological site in the northern village of Holzthum. The Holzthum Hoard consists of a total of 141 solidii, encompassing eight Roman emperors, who reigned between 364 and 408 AD.

Eugenius

The burial site was a Late Roman military fort, based on the foundations of the building that the cache was deposited in. The eight Roman emperors were Valentinian I, Valens, Gratian, Valentinian II, Theodosius I, Magnus Maximus and the ursurper Eugenius, of which three solidii were attributed to him, minted in Lugdunum, modern day Lyon. Eugenius, whose brief reign resulted in clashes with Theodosius I, and subsequent demise at the Battle of the Frigidus in September 394, meant few of his coins were minted. The gold solidi are in excellent condition and because they include very rare examples, experts evaluated the coins at 308,600 euros, approximately $322,000. The Ministry of Culture paid the valuation as a finder’s fee to the landowner and acquired the coins for the nation. They will go on public display after they are conserved and studied.

The Seleucids

Seleukos I Nikator (The Victor), Founder and King of the Seleukid Empire of Syria, 312-281 BC.

The Seleucids were a Greek dynasty who ruled much of the Middle East from 312 to 64 BCE. There were 28 Seleucid kings and one queen. Ten died in the many wars of the era; others were assassinated, often by relatives. Founder of the dynasty was Seleucus I, born in Macedonia about 369 BCE and a companion of Alexander the Great. In 312 BCE he recaptured Babylon. This event marked Year 1 of the 'Seleucid Era'. In 281 BCE, Seleucus tried to conquer Macedonia. It ended poorly for him as he was murdered. His son, Antiochus I, became king. Antiochus II's son Seleucus II Callinicus came to the throne around 246 BC.

Seleucus II was soundly defeated by Ptolemy III of Egypt and then faced a civil war against his brother. A revival in Seleucid fortunes began when Seleucus II's younger son, Antiochus III, took the throne in 223 BC. Seleucid renewed glory was temporary.

A rare Silver Tetradrachm of the Seleukids

Grand plans meant a collision course with the Roman Republic. At the battles of Thermopylae (191 BC) and Magnesia (190 BC), Antiochus's forces suffered defeats. By 100 BC, the Seleucid Empire existed only because no other nation wished to absorb them. Mithridates was defeated by Pompey in 63 BC. Pompey saw the Seleucids as troublesome and did away with both rival Seleucid princes. He made Syria into a Roman province and the Seleucids faded into history.

Pompey Magnus

Tolita-Tumaco gold figure

Discovered near the border of Colombia and Ecuador, the 100 BC figure is from the Tumaco-Tolita culture. The Tumaco-La Tolita lived on the coasts of Ecuador and extended as far north as Buenaventura, in Colombia.

The peak of the Tolita culture lasted around 700 years. Its demise was marked by the abandonment of the Island of La Tolita around 400 AD. The artisans of the Tumaco culture excelled in the work of gold, platinum and tumbaga (an alloy of gold and copper). These metals were mainly used for artistic objects. The earliest evidence of the use of metals in the region comes from the archaeological site near the Islandof la Tolita, where a sheet of gold was found that was dated between 915 and 780 BC. The metalsmiths of the Tolita culture were the first in the world to work with platinum, at least 1,400 years before European blacksmiths. Platinum has a very high melting point, so Tolita blacksmiths had to develop techniques to work the metal without melting it, one of them is sintering, which is achieved by mixing platinum powder in gold or silver.

Trove of 11th century gold coins in ancient Caesarea

In 2018 six rare Byzantine gold coins and 18 Fatimid-era coins testified to a wealthy family fleeing conquest on the eve of the bloody 1101 crusade. 24 gold coins and a gold earring was discovered in a well-hidden bronze pot during excavations in the ancient harbor of Caesarea. The dinars were all 24k gold, whereas the Byzantine coins were 22k. The treasure was likely hidden during flight from the bloody Crusader battle of 1101 at the seaside stronghold, in which the ruling Fatimid empire was routed and its people massacred or taken as slaves. The hoard was immensely valuable. One or two of the gold coins were the equivalent of the annual salary of a farmer.

Baldwin I of Jerusalem was behind the Crusader conquest of Caesarea in 1101. After his coronation on Dec 25, 1100, he captured a series of port cities from the Egypt-based Fatimid empire.

Five of the six rare 'Christian' coins belong to the reign of Byzantine Emperor Michael VII Doukas (1071–1079).

Caesarea was the capital of the Roman province of Judaea in 6 ce. It was a centre of early Christianity. The Jewish revolt against Rome was touched off at Caesarea in 66 ce. Caesarea was the capital of the province renamed Syria-Palaestina by Hadrian.

Under the Byzantines it was capital of the province of Palaestina Prima. The city declined under later Byzantine and Arab rule. Its port and part of the ancient citadel were rebuilt by the crusaders; the city was successively taken and retaken by Muslim and crusader forces.

Umutkor collar - Attila the Hun

Authorities of Kyrgyzstan suspected the 5th-century Eastern Hunnic gold collar sold by Sotheby’s was taken from the country illegally. The Umutkor collar was sold for £242,500 ($380,215) in 2014. The royal collar and beads set with garnets and glass belonged to Sansyzbay Umutkor, who bought it circa 1890-1895. The collar was handed down by family descent until it was exported to Bratislava, Slovakia, in 2013.

Eastern Hunnic jewellery is exceedingly rare. A complete collar is spectacular. The unrecorded fifth century gold royal collar set with garnets and glass is from the time of Attila the Hun.

The magnificent collar would have been worn only by those of the highest status.

Attila and his Huns are seen in the West as barbarians. Attila led military raids on both the Eastern and Western Roman Empires. In the late fourth and fifth centuries they viciously subjected all of the European tribes and forced Rome and Constantinople to pay vast sums to keep the Hunnic horde out of their cities.

The Barbarians accelerated the fall of Rome.

Attila the Hun is considered by most Hungarians as the founder of the country. According to ancient records, Attila died in his palace across the Danube after a feast celebrating his marriage to a beautiful young gothic princess named Ildico. Legend says that his men diverted a section of a river, buried the coffin under the riverbed, and were then killed to keep the exact location a secret.

Iron shackles from Ghozza reflect harsh reality

Excavations at a 2,200-year-old mining village in Ghozza, Egypt in 2020 revealed a grim reality ... forced slave labour. Egyptian gold mining activity in the region saw a rise in the Hellenistic period (332–30 BC).

40 mines were opened under the Ptolemies following Alexander the Great's conquest of Egypt in 332 BC.

The new dynasty founded by Ptolemy I needed gold to fund military campaigns, prestige projects abroad and monumental buildings in Alexandria to reflect its power and wealth. Ghozza was the northern-most Ptolemaic gold mine and the workforce processed ore with hand grinding stones. Hundreds of ostraca (pottery sherds used as surfaces for writing) found at the site provide a record of daily activities. They showed that some miners received wages. Two sets of iron shackles revealed some labour was forced. These were clearly for human use and could not have been removed without assistance. While they allowed the hands to remain free, walking with them would have been slow and exhausting.

Ancient writers identified the miners as prisoners of war and convicted criminals and that some were also slaves. They vividly described the harsh conditions endured by gold miners under the Ptolemies: “And those who have been condemned in this way—and they are of a great multitude and all have their feet bound—work at their tasks unceasingly both by day and throughout the entire night.” The shackles closely resemble those uncovered in the silver mines of Laurion, Greece. Its possible the technological knowledge used in Egyptian gold mines during the Hellenistic period was imported by Greek and Macedonian engineers. Beneath the grandeur of Egypt's wealth lies human exploitation and suffering.

The Five Good Emperors

The five Good Emperors refers to the succession of Nerva (96–98 CE), Trajan (98–117), Hadrian (117–138), Antoninus Pius (138–161), and Marcus Aurelius (161–180). They presided over the most majestic days of the mighty Roman Empire.

After the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180, the empire quickly descended into chaos which was not ended until the assassination of Commodus (December 31, 192 AD) and the triumph of Septimius Severus. With Commodus' murder, the Nerva–Antonine dynasty came to an end. Turmoil continued until the 'Year of the Five Emperors'. The Roman Empire would never be as great again.

Nerva

Trajan

Hadrian

Antoninus Pius

Marcus Aurelius

Murum aries attigit - 'The ram has touched the wall'

To give no quarter means to show no mercy.

Romans held that once an assault had begun, no mercy or quarter would be given. The ram touching the wall referred to the battering ram in an assault.

The term "missio" refers to the sign that a gladiator may give when they cede a fight to their opponent. It serves as both an acknowledgement of defeat and a plea for mercy.

The loser asks the munerarius to stop the fight and send him alive (missus) from the arena. If he had not fallen he could be "sent away standing" (stans missus). The editor took the crowd's response into consideration in deciding whether to let the loser live. "Without missio" was a fight with no possibility of a reprieve for the loser.

The Monster of Troy

In Greek myth, a terrible sea monster suddenly appears on the Trojan coast, where it causes great destruction. To appease the beast, the king of Troy, Laomedon, sends his daughter Hesione as a sacrifice. At the last moment the hero Hercules arrives to slay the monster and rescue the princess.

A menacing creature lurks on an ancient Greek vase in the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. The scene is on a Corinthian krater dating to around 550 B.C. It is the oldest illustration of the ancient legend of the Monster of Troy. The vase shows Hesione and Hercules fighting the monster.

Hesione throws rocks from a pile at her feet while Hercules shoots arrows.

Some suggest that the Monster of Troy resembles a Plesiosaur, a Mesozoic marine reptile.

Plesiosaurs are amoung the largest marine apex predators in the fossil record.

Hercules and the Princess of Troy (1965)