Denarii

If you know me, you know I'm very interested in the history of the Roman Empire, particularly the start of the Empire (as opposed to the Republic) up through about 190 AD.   One of my favorite emperors is Vespasian (and not just because of the Falco mysteries, although I like the way Lindsey Davis characterizes Vespasian in the books) and I've been lucky over the years to pick up several coins minted during Vespasian's rule (69-79 AD).  Ancient coins fascinate me; it is beyond cool to hold something in my hand that was minted almost 2000 years ago.  It would be amazing if the coins could speak and tell their stories; where did the coins travel, who used them, where did they end up before they came into my hands? It's fun to let the imagination run wild.

My Dad mentioned photographing coins to me today, and since it has been raining (and not really conducive to tennis ball zoomies) today, I thought it would be fun to pull out of a couple of coins and see if I could get some pictures of them.  I haven't really photographed coins before, and I just pulled a couple of my better denarii out (I have a couple of sestertii in okay condition as well), and thought I'd see what I'd get.

Vespasian has a very distinctive profile - and certainly looks like a no-nonsense kind of guy.  This coin is nice because you can make our the face and some of the lettering, but it also has enough wear to show that it was used for a while (which is partially what makes it so interesting to me).

When you see the back of this second denarius, you'll see why I got it.  Of course, it is nice to be able to make out the face (again, Vespasian has a very distinctive profile), but this too has wear.  I also like that these coins aren't uniformly round.

Yep, a caduceus on the back!  (These are actually fairly hard to find - the 'Concordia' above is more common.)

This says 'PONMAX' on the right side, which, of course, is for Pontifex Maximus.  I can't make out what the rest of the lettering is on this coin, although I've seen pictures of 'cleaner' versions of this coin that put the rest of the lettering as TR P COS V, which is tribune of the people (Tribunicia Potestate), Consul for the 5th (Vth) time.  Seriously.  These are so cool.

See, Mom, I did pay attention in my Latin classes.

I'll have to pull out a few more of my Roman coins.  They really do fascinate me.  

Abby was not quite as fascinated.  Even though her 'Roman' name is Fluffica.  (Yes, that is totally made up.  But it suits her!)

Thanks for the photography idea, Dad!

Day 192/365.