QUESTION: Mr. Armstrong, Your writings on Rome and the parallels are astounding because, as you say, human nature never changes. I took my family to Rome for a vacation thanks to you. We went into the Roman Forum, and that was impressive. Are the monuments there in the forum documented by the coinage? Thank you […]
The Balkck Sea Trade – Tauric Chersonesus, Panticapaeum. This is probably the finest known Gold Stater (circa 350-300AD) of Panticapaeum, which was the most powerful city in the Tauric Chersonesus with deep involvement in the lucrative Black Sea grain trade for even back then, Ukraine was a major bread-basket in the ancient world as well. […]
For whatever reason, people have tried to claim that Cleopatra was black. That is the most absurd proposition that distorts history beyond belief. When Alexander the Great died, his empire was split among his generals. Egypt went to General Ptolomey. There was perhaps a sense of prejudice by the Greeks against those that they conquered […]
Caesar’s Wife begged him not to go to the Senate in the morning. She had her vision of his death. Decimus dined with Caesar the night before his assassination and convinced Caesar to leave his house the next morning for staying home because his wife, Calpurnia, was worried was unmanly. That fateful day set in […]
History repeats because human nature never changes. During the Roman Republic, the name of the moneyer would appear on the coinage just as today the Secretary of the Treasury’s signature appears on our paper currency – i.e. Steven T. Munchin. To this day, our coins are denoted by which mint produced them – Philadelphia, […]
“Et tu, Brute? — Then fall, Caesar.” These famous lines from William Shakespeare’s play Julius Caesar, describing Caesar’s death, are how most of us believe it to have happened. Yet, these words may not necessarily have been the last ones said by the dying Roman general. We actually do not know Caesar’s last words. That may have […]
QUESTION: I understand that the Koch brothers bought ancient coins. Is there any truth to that? WJ ANSWER: Oh, yes. William Koch was involved in a very famous case involving the Athenian decadrahms. There was a hoard discovered in Antalya by a television repairman and two other people back in 1984. They found a hoard […]
QUESTION: Why Constantine the Great? Mr Armstrong, Of the 170 or so Roman emperors from 27BC to 476AD only one carries the title “the Great” and that is Constantine(r.306-337AD). Would you have chosen another Roman emperor for this distinction in preference to Constantine? JR ANSWER: Constantine was given the title “the Great” because of his use […]
QUESTION: Martin, Compared to Roman timeline, what year would you say we are in 2019? M ANSWER: It is hard to say. My concern is what comes after Trump. We seem to be between the peak, which was during 180 AD and the dawn of Maximinus I (235-238 AD) who declared that all wealth simply […]
Nero’s Domus Transitoria (Transit House) has finally opened to visitors after 10 years of renovations. Even I have never visited this place despite all the times I have been to Rome. You must descend underground to view the rooms and gardens of the residence, covered over the centuries by other buildings and debris. This was the first […]
