Coins of Lucilla ‘born to the purple’
Lucilla Augusta was very special at her time: not only was she the daughter of emperor Marcus Aurelius, but at the same time she was his co-emperor’s wife. Claire Franklin illustrates by Lucilla’s coin designs how she lived her role.
Brandenburg and 200 years of Confessio Augustana
The scene Andreas Vestner has recorded on a silver medal produced by order of Karl Wilhelm Friedrich of Brandenburg-Ansbach is impressive to see: The Chancellor of Saxony is reading out the Augsburg Confession. But why did the ‘Wild Margrave’ of all people commission this medal?
Medieval Sicily Part 4: The Normans are coming
Around AD 1000, Sicily was ruled and shaped by the Arabs, Lower Italy by the Byzantines and the Lombards. Then the Normans came and created a new empire in the South ...
The Casa Savoia – A Noble Family between Italy, France, and Switzerland Part 2
Auction house Gadoury will auction off an extensive collection Casa Savoia originating from the possessions of a gentleman of the royal family. In the second article of the three-part series you will learn more about how the counts of Savoy became kings – and then lost all of their power again.
A donative of Constantine the Great
This impressive piece belongs to a small series of silver medallions celebrating the vicennalia of Constantine II, the eldest surviving son of Constantine the Great, in 336.
The Melle Mines
When the Arabs went out in the 7th century to conquer a vast empire with their new faith, the world changed not only religiously and politically but also ...
Sikyon and its Chimaira
Why do we find Chimaira on the staters of the city of Sikyon? A search for traces...
A King at a pinch – the stolen coin collection of Victor Emmanuel III of Italy
A King dealing in coins – that sounds preposterous? Well, in 1944 the satirical magazine “Nebelspalter” published a caricature of the same tenor which was understood throughout Europe. Victor Emmanuel’s passion for coins was proverbial. He is said to have collected 120,000 pieces as the foundation of the most important publication of Italian coinage, the CNI, whose first volume was published exactly 100 years ago...
The sacred year of the Pagans – the Saecular Games
When the Pope declares a jubilee year, he stands in a tradition which is almost as old as Christianity itself. It was Augustus who created the practice of absolving mankind when nobody was still alive of those who had witnessed the beginning of the previous saeculum...
Alexander of Abonuteichos – a lesson from Asia Minor about gullibility in the 2nd cent. A. D.
You are one of those people who believe than there are more things in heaven and earth than are dreamt of in your philosophy? Well, you are in accordance with a deep-seated tradition and can appeal to the fact that already in antiquity there were people who thought the same as you. ..