The Prince of Prittlewell

The Prittlewell Prince refers to a high-status Anglo-Saxon royal burial discovered in 2003 near Southend-on-Sea, Essex. Called "Britain's Tutankhamun" due to its undisturbed state, the chamber yielded over 40 treasures. Radiocarbon dates combined with other dating evidence narrowed the burial to a period of about 30 years (AD 575–605). This date was refined by tiny gold coins from the coffin, called tremissi from Merovingian France.

An extremely high status 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 research into the find, and launched an interactive version of the burial chamber.

The identity of the Prince of Prittlewell may never be known. 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 gold-foil crosses found at the head of the coffin were placed over the eyes of the deceased.

High status latticed blue glass beakers manufactured in Kent and a pair of drinking bottles

Viking coin hoard brings jail sentence for thieves

A haul of Viking coins uncovered during a police raid in 2019 could “change British history”, according to a leading historian. The coins were described as a “nationally important hoard”.

44 coins, which were valued at £766,000, were discovered by police after Craig Best, from Bishop Auckland, County Durham, tried to sell some of them in 2018. The coins date back to 879AD under the rule of King Alfred the Great of Wessex and include two extremely rare 'Two Emperor' coins which were issued by King Alfred and Ceolwulf II of Mercia. Craig Best (left), Roger Pilling (right) were convicted and sentenced to a total of more than 18 years in 2019. It is the legal responsibility of the finder of any precious metal objects that are over 300 years old to report them to the local coroner.

Accounts had suggested Ceolwulf of Mercia as a "puppet" of the Vikings and a minor nobleman rather than a proper King in his own right. However, the 'Two Emperor' coins tell a different story and show two rulers standing side by side as allies and peers. They portray him as a king in his own right and a strong ally to Alfred, rather than a ‘puppet’ for the Vikings as previously thought. A 'Two Emperor' coin will bring six figures.

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

Lincolnshire Roman coin hoard - 'largest find in Britain'

More than 3,000 copper alloy coins were found by two metal detectorists near the village of Rauceby, Lincolnshire, in July 2017.

The coins were found in a ceramic pot, buried in an oval pit and may have been buried as part of a ceremony, or votive commemoration.

The coins were declared treasure following an inquest hearing. The coins are thought to date to the time Constantine was declared emperor in York (306 AD) while on a military campaign. York was Rome's northern military command headquarters. Around six years later, back in Italy, Constantine converted from paganism to Christianity. He was baptized on his deathbed in 337.

Sarcophagus dedicated to sky god found

Egypt unveiled the tombs of ancient high priests and a sarcophagus dedicated to the sky god Horus at an archaeological site in Minya in 2020.

The shared tombs were dedicated to high priests of the god Djehuty, from the Late Period around 3,000 years ago. One of the stone sarcophagi was dedicated to the god Horus, the son of Isis and Osiris, and features a depiction of the goddess Nut spreading her wings.

The ministry also unveiled 10,000 blue and green ushabti (funerary figurines), 700 amulets—including some made of pure gold bearing scarab shapes, and one bearing the figure of a winged cobra. Horus is the name of a sky god in ancient Egyptian mythology which designates primarily two deities: Horus the Elder (Horus the Great), the last born of the first five original gods, and Horus the Younger, the son of Osiris and Isis.

Ichthyosaur fossil proves ancient sea monster roamed the world

In 2019 a nearly complete fossil of the giant ‘lizard fish’ Ichthyosaur was unearthed in India. It’s the first time the fishlike reptile has been found on the sub continent.

It was found among the remains of its prey. It appears to belong to the Ophthalmosauridae family of Ichthyosaurs, closely related to Northern Hemisphere varieties. It likely lived between 152 and 157 million years ago. Ichthyosaur_decimated_V01 by mathewdc on Sketchfab

Forgotten Crypt in U.K. - exploding bishops

A forgotten crypt was uncovered in an ancient church in London in 2017. Inside are the remains of some of England’s most influential churchmen. They will remain undisturbed for now — being sealed in a lead coffin can have explosive consequences. The tomb was accidentally uncovered by workmen refurbishing the Garden Museum in a neighborhood of London. The Garden Museum is located in the deconsecrated St. Mary-at-Lambeth Church, which dates back to 1062

The tomb appears to be 400 or 500 years old. At least five of the 30 coffins contain the remains of former archbishops of Canterbury — the most senior clergyman in the Episcopal Church of England.

Clergymen have been identified by plates affixed to the coffins. They include Richard Bancroft, who was England’s No. 1 churchman from 1604 to 1610. He played a major role in producing the King James Bible.

A corpse in a coffin that’s undisturbed for 400 or so years would turn most of us into dust. But some turn into so-called ‘coffin liquor.’

When the tightly sealed coffin lets the anaerobic bacteria win the day, some coffins will be one third full of a viscous black liquid. These contents can burst out violently when the seal is broken.

Roman coin hoard found in France

Tens of thousands of Roman coins have been unearthed in Senon, northeastern France. Some of the coins bear images of rulers of the Gallic Empire that controlled the region from A.D. 260 to 274. The coins were collected over time in three amphoras, which were carefully buried in a dwelling so that the openings of the jars were level with the floor. The first jar held about 83 pounds of coins, and the second jar contained about 110 pounds of coins. Only three coins were found in a pit where a third jar had once been buried and later retrieved in antiquity.

This region of France was once populated by a Celtic tribe known as the Mediomatrici, who were eventually conquered by the Romans. It’s believed that these hoards were a type of long-term deposit rather than hastily buried treasure. The building they were found in was destroyed by fire. The three hoards in total contain at least 40,000 ancient Roman coins.

Between A.D. 260 and 274, during the height of the Crisis of the Third Century and the existence of the breakaway Gallic Empire, Roman coinage, specifically the antoninianus (double denarius), underwent severe debasement, reaching its lowest point in silver content. By roughly 260, the coins were only about 2% silver, often applied as a thin silver wash or plating over a copper core.

Ancients at Heritage

IONIA. Ephesus. Phanes (ca. 625-600 BC). EL stater. NGC VF 4/5 - 4/5.

Heritage offered the impossibly rare Phanes stater in 2019. Phanes coinage falls into seven denominations, from the stater down to a 1/96 stater, all featuring the stag in various poses. There are only two other known staters. It made $300k.

SICILY. Syracuse. Time of Dionysius I (405-367 BC) AR decadrachm NGC MS 5/5 - 5/5.

Considered to be the most beautiful coins ever struck, the silver decadrachms of Syracuse represent the apex of classical Greek sculptural art. Syracuse, the foremost Greek city in Sicily, had produced coins of great beauty for a century when engravers began signing their coin dies. Master engravers Kimon and Euainetos are recognized today.

Prices range from tens of thousands to well over $100k. Price depends on artistry, condition, provenance, and if signed by Kimon or Euainetos.

Quintus Labienus, rebel Imperator (40-39 BC). AR denarius. NGC AU 5/5 - 3/5

Quintus Labienus was the son of Titus Labienus, one of Julius Caesar's generals, who threw his support to Pompey and the Senate during the Civil War of 49-45 BC. Following the assassination of Caesar in 44 BC, Quintus fell in with the assassins Brutus and Cassius. He would be dead by the end of the year, 40BC.

Prices range from $7,500 for low grade examples to over $82,500 for exceptional coins.

Scottish Silver coin hoard - Battle of Roslin

In 2019 two metal detectorists discovered 200 coins underneath a tree at the site of the Battle of Roslin, an epic battle during the First War of Scottish Independence on 24 February 1303.

Outnumbered Scottish forces decimated their English enemies. It's believed that of the 30,000 English soldiers who entered the battlefield, only a few thousand survived. The coins resemble those of English monarch King Edward I, whose reign lasted from 1271 to 1307.

The Battle of Roslin was a series of 3 engagements, where a force of 8,000 Scots defeated the much larger English army. Led by Scots John Comyn and Sir Simon Fraser of Oliver and Neidpath, they ambushed and annilated the English army under Lord John Segrave.

Experts speculate the hoard was payment for mercenaries who took part in the battle. Those hiring mercenaries wouldn't have wanted to pay out before the battle - it's much cheaper to pay those who survived.

Rome’s eccentric leaders

Oddball was the orator and politician Hortensius (114–50 BCE) of the late Roman republic. He loved the plane trees on his estate so much he watered them with wine. Receiving news that one of them was dying, Hortensius hastily adjourned a legal case to rush to be by its side. Marcus Licinius Crassus, a contemporary of Hortensius, kept pet eels in an expensive fishpond. He adorned his favourite eel with jewellery. When the eel died, Crassus held a funeral and mourned it for three days.

Crassus later died in Mesopotamia (southern Turkey) in a disastrous battle against the Parthians in 53 BCE. The Parthians lured Crassus into a hot and waterless plain where they destroyed his army. 20,000 men died along with him and his son.

Few matched the notorious and insane emperor Caligula. (37–41 CE) He threatened to appoint his horse as consul. The horse, named Incitatus, was lavished with splendidly appointed stables and its own slaves. Caligula often dressed in the garb of four different divinities, including Venus. Sometimes he wore a beard of gold and held a thunderbolt in his hand to emulate Jupiter. Nero is perhaps the most infamous Roman of all. The nephew of Caligula, Nero’s reign (54–68 CE) was known for extreme brutality, excess and indulgence. Nero’s penchant for singing and playing the cithara on stage was mocked during and after his reign. He even established a festival called the Neronia.

Over a century later, emperor Commodus took wildly eccentric behaviour to impossible levels. Commodus appeared in the Colosseum often as a gladiator, winning all his bouts easily as his opponents always submitted. Commodus dressed as Hercules, his favourite mythological hero. Commodus’ reputation for cruelty and erratic behaviour was widespread. Not as bloody as the rest, Elagabalus was 14 on becoming emperor in 218 CE. His many sexual perversions and bizzarre behaviour scandalised Rome.

Incredibly rare ancient gold coin found in UK field

An ancient stater, only the second of its kind ever found, has been discovered. It is likely evidence of trade between two tribes in the U.K. thousands of years ago. Unearthed by a metal detectorist in Lelley, East Yorkshire, the coin dates back to around 50-10BC. It is a variant of a Corieltauvi tribe gold stater, made by a Celtic tribe that occupied Lincolnshire.

The coin was found in what was the Iron-Age territory of the Parisi tribe. The Corieltavian mint was sited at Sleaford. Leicester was the Roman capital of the Corieltauvi tribe, with the mint being one of their workshops. The coin weighs 5.5g, with a composition of 33% gold, 54% copper and 9.5% silver. It has five dots on it with a depiction of a horse below it. It is the fifth pellet on the coin that makes it incredibly rare. Corieltauvi staters always had four pellets - or so everyone thought until a five-domino was recently found. The stater is likely evidence of trading between the Corieltauvi and Parisi tribes. The stater was sold at auction for £3,300.

Sisyphus

In Greek mythology Sisyphus was the king of Ephyra (now Corinth).

He was punished for his self-aggrandizing craftiness and deceitfulness by being forced to roll a boulder up a hill, only to watch it roll back down, repeating this action for eternity. Sisyphus promoted navigation and commerce but was avaricious and deceitful. He killed travelers and guests, a violation of xenia, which fell under Zeus's domain. He took pleasure in these killings because they allowed him to maintain his iron-fisted rule.

Persephone supervising Sisyphus in the Underworld.

Hades with Cerberus - Pluto Carricci painting

Sisyphus's greatest triumph came at the end of his life, when the god Hades came to claim him personally for the kingdom of the dead. Hades had brought a pair of handcuffs, and Sisyphus expressed such an interest that Hades was persuaded to demonstrate their use - on himself. The lord of the Underworld was kept locked up by Sisyphus, which meant nobody could die. As a punishment for his trickery against the Gods, Sisyphus was made to toil endlessly.

The maddening nature of the punishment was reserved for him due to his belief that his cleverness surpassed Zeus.

His hubris ended up consigning Sisyphus to an eternity of useless effort. Pointless or interminable activities are described today as sisyphean.