Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek… Spartans disdained many things that other ancient Greeks valued. One of these things was money, even Spartan coins. Hundreds of different Greek cities issued coins between the birth of coined money around 650 BCE and the end of Greek civic coinage some time after 300 CE. The apparent exception […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coins Series by Mike Markowitz…. Throughout the history of ancient coins two contradictory concepts have competed with each other. According to one concept, a coin is a piece of precious metal whose value is essentially equivalent to the value of the bullion from which it was made, and the stamp on its face […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz …. IMPERIAL ROME NEVER REALLY solved the problem of orderly succession to power. The “normal” pattern of inheritance in a monarchy is an elderly ruler replaced after his natural death by a well-qualified adult son. For Rome, this was an exception, not a rule. Officially, an emperor had […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz …. COINAGE IS CONSERVATIVE. IF a denizen of ancient Rome picked up a modern American dime, he would recognize familiar symbols: a torch, an olive branch, oak leaves. He could even understand the Latin motto E PLURIBUS UNUM (“Out of Many, One”). Similarly, if that ancient Roman picked […]
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By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek …. Those very things that procured him ill repute bear witness to his greatness… Antony was thought disgraced by his marriage with Cleopatra, a queen superior in power and glory … to all who were kings in her time. Antony was so great as to be thought by others worthy […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz …. As with politicians, nothing is more important to gods than image … Perhaps this is the secret of the longevity of the God of Israel, that He never allowed an image of Himself[1]. THE OLD TESTAMENT’S STRICT PROHIBITION of idolatry inhibited the development of religious art in […]
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By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek …. Do not use dishonest standards when measuring length, weight or quantity. Use honest scales and honest weights, an honest ephah and an honest hin[1]. — Leviticus, 19:35-36 PEOPLE ARE NOT VERY GOOD AT estimating or comparing weight. Before the rise of market economies, people measured commodities mainly by […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz …. …And unto Sarah he said, Behold, I have given thy brother a thousand pieces of silver. –Genesis, 20:16 ABIMELECH, PHILISTINE KING OF GERAR, gravely offended the patriarch Abraham by trying to appropriate his wife, Sarah, having been led to believe that Sarah was actually Abraham’s sister[1]. In […]
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The business of a sphinx is to be mysterious By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek …. …somewhere in sands of the desert A shape with lion body and the head of a man A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun, Is moving its slow thighs…[1] — W. B. Yeats, “The Second Coming” (1920) IN […]
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By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek …. ANCIENT ROMANS KNEW even less about the prehistoric origins of their religion than we do, since we have knowledge from centuries of archaeology. Latin writers of the Classical era tried to connect their own native Italian gods to the prestigious gods of ancient Greece, with their complex genealogies […]
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By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek …. ANCIENT ROMANS KNEW even less about the prehistoric origins of their religion than we do, since we have knowledge from centuries of archaeology. Latin writers of the Classical era tried to connect their own native Italian gods to the prestigious gods of ancient Greece, with their complex genealogies and […]
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By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek …. “To declare that a forged coin is genuine is a mistake, but to declare that a genuine coin is a forgery is a crime.” –Leo Mildenberg (1913 – 2001)[1] FOR CLASSICAL NUMISMATISTS any discussion of fake ancient coins is… a delicate subject. Dealers worry that fear of fakes […]
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By Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek …. “To declare that a forged coin is genuine is a mistake, but to declare that a genuine coin is a forgery is a crime.” –Leo Mildenberg (1913 – 2001)[1] FOR CLASSICAL NUMISMATISTS any discussion of fake ancient coins is… a delicate subject. Dealers worry that fear of fakes will […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz …. MORE THAN ANY OTHER ANIMAL (except perhaps the dog), the horse is beloved for its strength, intelligence, speed, loyalty and beauty. The earliest images of horses created by people appear on the walls of Chauvet Cave in France, dated to almost 30,000 years ago[1]. People first domesticated […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz…. BETWEEN THE YEARS 1200 and 1600 a handful of feisty Italians created one of the greatest commercial and maritime empires in history. Venetians wrecked the Byzantine state, fought the Ottoman sultans to a standstill, defied a series of Popes and German emperors, and adorned their city with masterpieces […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz…. THE JEBEL AKHDAR OR “GREEN MOUNTAINS” OF LIBYA stretches eastward from Benghazi for a hundred miles (160 km) along the coast. With an average annual rainfall of 15-20 inches (375-500 mm), these limestone hills are the most forested region in North Africa. In ancient times, before centuries of […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz… THE PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN TUSCANY before the Romans are often described as “enigmatic” or “mysterious.” We know them as “Etruscans”[1] from the name that the Romans called them; they called themselves “Rasna.” The last speakers of the Etruscan language probably died out in the first century of […]
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First Read, a continuing series of essays about classic and contemporary works of numismatic literature… Essay by Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek…. Coinage in the Roman Economy by Kenneth Harl, Ph.D. Buy the book before you buy the coin. -Numismatic proverb (attributed to Aaron Feldman) I’m always a little embarrassed when CoinWeek describes me as an […]
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CoinWeek Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz… BY THE BEGINNING of the seventh century, the lands of the Eastern Mediterranean had been ravaged by plague, earthquake and decades of war between the Eastern Roman (“Byzantine”) and Sasanian Persian empires. Along the coast, the great cities were mostly Greek-speaking. In the fertile hill country, villagers spoke […]
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Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek… Spartans disdained many things that other ancient Greeks valued. One of these things was money. Hundreds of different Greek cities issued coins between the birth of coined money around 650 BCE and the end of Greek civic coinage some time after 300 CE. The apparent exception was Sparta. Many […]
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Ancient Coin Series by Mike Markowitz for CoinWeek… Why have our two consuls and praetors come out today wearing their embroidered, their scarlet togas? Why have they put on bracelets with so many amethysts, and rings sparkling with magnificent emeralds? Why are they carrying elegant canes beautifully worked in silver and gold? Because the barbarians […]
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