THE JOURNAL OF ANCIENT NUMISMATICS, VOLUME 4

Livia - The First Augusta of Rome
By: Marvin Tameanko

When Augustus died in AD 14, he willed the title of ‘Augusta', the feminine form of Augustus, to his wife Livia Drusilla, his partner for 53 years. This is an excellent biography of Livia, the first Augusta of Rome.

Britain's First Coins
By: Chris Rudd

They are cheaper than Greek, rarer than Roman, more bizarre than Byzantine, sexier than Anglo-Saxon, more British than English hammered, and more fun than foreign banknotes. That's the magic of Celtic coins, the first coins made in Britain.

A fantastic introduction to British Celtic coins.

The World of Coin Forgery
By: Ilya Prokopov

A small group of enthusiasts from different countries are trying to draw the attention of the ministries of culture, the national and international institutions of justice, and police groups to the painful subject of the production and sale of ancient coin fakes. This problem stays in the shadows and there is no trend towards enlightenment. The real reasons for this secrecy are known to few. Although public, the secrecy itself remains a secret.

A Strange Fantasy Caracalla Overstruck on Menander
By: David MacDonald

The inherent improbability of such an overstrike provokes immediate suspicion. Menander's drachms are the most common Indo-Greek silver coins and are known to have remained long in circulation, but it is unlikely a well-preserved example made its way to Rome after some three and half centuries and even less likely that such a coin would have been overstruck by the Roman mint.

Vilonius Strabo
By: Mark Passehl

There is a problem with the abbreviated clan name, and therefore basic identity, of the Roman mint magistrate responsible for Crawford's type 377: a small issue of denarii serrati, struck around 80 B.C. with an unusually spectacular reverse design of Zeus' taurus conveying Europa from Tyre to Crete. Crawford presents the legend as L. VOL L.F STRAB (RRC, 391), apparently following a scholarly consensus.

Black Sea Hoard Controversy Dies with a Whimper
By: Wayne G. Sayles

It is only fitting that an issue that has a strong emphasis on forgeries of ancient coins should include an article which discusses the conclusion to one of the most controversial events concerning forgeries.

The Birth of Islamic Coinage - The Orthodox and Umayyad Caliphate
By: Sameer Kazmi

An excellent introduction to Islamic Coinage. At the advent of Islam, Arabia for the most part had a very limited numismatic history of its own. The past local coinage seems to be limited to that of the Sabaeans, the Himyarites, the Nabataens, and Rome's Provencia Arabia. However, by Muhammad's birth, these were already centuries old.

Images of Africa on Roman Imperatorial Coinage as Propaganda at the End of the Republic
By: Gabriella Vlahovici Jones

In the second century A.D., Appian of Alexandria embarks on the monumental undertaking of writing a Roman History. Only the Civil Wars survive today – a testimony to the Greek intellectual's attempt at unraveling the series of events that brought about the fall of the Republic.

To read the complete issue, see: Journal of Ancient Numismatics, Volume 4 (imperialcoins.com/newsletters/volume4/index.html)

Wayne Homren, Editor

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