Base AR Antoninianus of Emperor Valerian

While there was only a handful of good emperors throughout the whole of the Third Century, I've recently gotten interested in the Crisis of that century. The father-and-son pair of emperors, Valerian and Gallienus, present interesting areas of study. Valerian's capture and imprisonment by the Persians marks perhaps the low point of the whole of the Roman Empire's history. His son, on the other hand, facing terrible odds, held on, won a series of impressive victories against the Germans while aggressively going after breakaway usurpers, and kept the empire from completely going under.

Valerian doesn't rank high on my personal list of emperors. In fact, besides being captured by Shapur I, he's best known for his particularly nasty persecutions of the Christians. Yet, he seems to have been fairly competent (his capture notwithstanding) and appears to have been something of a reformer of the empire's woes. Foreshadowing Diocletian, Valerian split the empire's administration in two, sharing responsibility for running the empire with his son Gallienus. So I decided to pick up a coin of Valerian, the base silver antoninianus shown below. Most of Valerian's coinage in my price range is crude and wholly unimpressive, but this coin is wonderful. The legends are clearly readable, the portrait is crisp and expressive, the reverse image still carries good detail, and it feels great in the hand.

In the administrative division, Gallienus received the west, while Valerian took charge of the east. The coin's reverse image is of a female figure of the Orient handing a wreath to Valerian; the legend reads RESTITVT ORIENTIS. It probably refers to Valerian's victories in the east in 253/254 AD, when he suppressed the usurpation of Uranius Antoninus and recaptured Antioch from the Persians. I find it wonderfully ironic that Valerian wished to portray himself as the "Restorer of the East" when he'd eventually become infamous in posterity for being captured and imprisoned by the Persian king Shapur I - which, mind you, threw the east into chaos.

The obverse features a great radiate, draped and cuirassed bust of Valerian facing right; the legend reads IMP C P LIC VALERIANVS P F AVG. The coin was struck sometime around 254 AD at an Asian mint, probably Antioch or Samosata. Reference is RIC 287. Weight is 4.05g.







Technorati Tags: Crisis of the Third Century, Valerian, Gallienus, Roman history, numismatics

Air America's Randi Rhodes Suspended for Tirade

I wonder what this does to Randi Rhodes's feminist credentials:




Probably nothing, since it's a well-known secret that identity politics has little to do with "identity" and everything to do with "ideology." In my opinion, it's just one of many inherent contradictions in the modern liberal worldview.

In any event, can the Democratic primary get any uglier? It makes for great entertainment, does it not?

Technorati Tags: Randi Rhodes, Air America

Ancient Coin Collecting Advice

For all you newbies out there. Nice convo shaping up, from the guys (and gals, too) at the Forvm Discussion Board.

Technorati Tags: numismatics

No Lie Too Big

Jake Tapper of ABC News provides the laughter for the day, reporting that Bill Clinton claims that Hillary had once tried to enlist in the U.S. Army:

Possibly to avoid being one-upped on Indiana national security politics, former President Bill Clinton told a crowd in Columbus, Indiana, today that his wife had tried to join the Army. ...

"I remember when we were young, right out of law school, she went down and tried to join the Army and they said 'Your eyes are so bad, nobody will take you,'" he said, after heralding her record on issues of concern to the military, such as body armor and access to health care.

Hillary's own version, told once in 1994, is that it was the Marines she tried to enlist in.

Whether Bill's version, or Hillary's version, the Army, or the Marines, the idea that an anti-Vietnam War hardcore McGovernite fresh out of Yale Law School who's husband had dodged the draft would even consider enlisting in the military in the Vietnam era is absolutely ridiculous.

But, fortunately for the Clintons, no lie is too ridiculous to tell...

Technorati Tags: Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, Jake Tapper

Numismatic Carnival!

Nathan at Curator and Collector has the second Numismatic Carnival up.

Technorati Tags: numismatics