Greek Egypt

This coin is in a G condition and depicts the Head of Zeus Ammon / Two eagles standing left on
thunderbolts; cornucopiae before.

The Ptolemies came from a royal Greek family, and were the rulers of Egypt from 305 to 30 BC. Their
coins commonly feature a curly-haired, bearded bust of Zeus right, portrayed with rams horns. The
horned Zeus, or 'Zeus Ammon', was a deity worshiped by some ancient Greek Egyptians. The
Egyptian deity Amun-Ra was portrayed with ram's horns, and the ancient Greeks identified him with
Zeus. In this way the bust nicely ties together traditional Egyptian beliefs with the Greek pantheon.

Ammon is the name of a Libyan deity and his oracle in the desert. It became famous after Alexander
the Great made a detour to consult the god. The modern name is Siwa.

The reverse is commonly one or two eagles standing on a thunderbolt. One eagle symbolizes one
king, and two eagles mean a joint reign - this could be either two kings or a king and his queen. In
the case of this coin we can see it was issues when Ptolemy VI jointly Philometer ruled with Ptolemy
VIII Physcon.

Like many of the rulers of Egypt during the Ptolemaic period, Ptolemy VI Philometer came to the
throne as a young child, with his mother, Cleopatra I as regent. She died only a few years after he
took the throne, and the young king was under the control of his guardians and advisors, Eulaeus
and Lenaeus.

Ptolemy VI married his sister, Cleopatra II. He was forced to share the rule of Egypt with his wife and
his younger brother, Ptolemy VIII Physcon, and in fact, he technically abdicated the throne to his
younger brother and ran off to Rome where he pretended to be a working class peasant, leaving
Physcon to rule in his stead in Egypt. He remained in Rome until they came to fetch him in May of
163. He reached an agreement with his brother to split the rule of Egypt, with Physcon ruling the
western province of Cyrenaica and Philometor retaining the rule of Egypt until his death in 145 BC.

Ptolemy VI was killed in battle after aiding Demetrius II to gain the throne of Syria, along with the
rival claimant Alexander Balas. His young son, Ptolemy VII Neos Philopater, took the throne for only
a few years, but he was killed as soon as Physcon (Ptolemy VIII) was able to return to Egypt to claim
the throne he had once held. Not that the Alexandrian people wanted him, they had begged for
Ptolemy VII to return from Rome.

In the centre of the coin is not a hole but in fact a dimple caused by the manufacturing process. The
coins were lathed smooth and round thus causing the indentation.
Medieval European Coins

Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (King of Hungary)

This coin could very well seen service during the last West European Crusades and is in an XF
condition.

The coin features the Patriarchal cross (☨) a variant of the Christian cross, the religious symbol of
Christianity. Similar to the familiar Latin cross, the patriarchal cross possesses a smaller crossbar
placed above the main one so that both crossbars are near the top. On the other side the coat of
arms represent 1. and 4. Hungarian towns, 2. and 3. Brandenburg.

Sigismund, Holy Roman Emperor (15 February 1368 – 9 December 1437) was Prince-elector of
Brandenburg from 1378 until 1388 and from 1411 until 1415, King of Hungary and Croatia from
1387, King of Germany from 1411, King of Bohemia from 1419, King of Italy from 1431, and Holy
Roman Emperor for four years from 1433 until 1437, the last male member of the House of
Luxemburg.

Sigismund von Luxembourg was the leader of the last West European Crusade - the Crusade of
Nicopolis of 1396 to liberate Bulgaria and save Constantinople from the Turks. Afterwards he
founded the Dragon Order to fight the Turks. He was regarded as highly educated, spoke several
languages (among them; French, German, Hungarian, Italian, and Latin) and was an outgoing person
who also took pleasure in the tournament. Sigismund was one of the driving forces behind the
Council of Constance that ended the Papal Schism, but which in the end also led to the Hussite Wars
that dominated the later period of Sigismund's life.
Sigismund II Augustus Issued as Duke of Lithuania

This coin is in a beautiful AU condition featuring a Knight riding a horse (National Arms of Lithuania)
on the obverse and an Eagle on the reverse (National Arms of Poland) showing the union between
Lithuania with Poland.

Sigismund II Augustus (1 August 1520 – 7 July 1572) was the King of Poland and Grand Duke of
Lithuania, the only son of Sigismund I the Old, whom Sigismund II succeeded in 1548. Married three
times, the last of the Jagiellons remained childless, and through the Union of Lublin introduced a
free elective monarchy.

Sigismund's reign was a period of internal turmoil and external expansion. He saw the introduction
of the Protestant Reformation into Poland and Lithuania, and the peero-cratic upheaval that placed
most political power in the hands of the szlachta (nobility); he saw the collapse of the Knights of the
Sword in the north, which led to the Commonwealth's acquisition of Livonia as a Lutheran duchy and
the consolidation of Turkey's power in the south. A less imposing figure than his father, the elegant
and refined Sigismund II Augustus was nevertheless an even more effective statesman than the
stern and majestic Sigismund I the Old.

Sigismund II possessed to a high degree the tenacity and patience that seem to have characterized
all the Jagiellons, and he added to these qualities a dexterity and diplomatic finesse. No other Polish
king seems to have so thoroughly understood the nature of the Polish sejm. Both the Austrian
ambassadors and the papal legates testify to the care with which he controlled his nation. Everything
went as he wished, they said, because he seemed to know everything in advance. He managed to
get more money out of the sejm than his father ever could, and at one of his sejms he won the
hearts of the assembly by unexpectedly appearing before them in the simple grey coat of a
Masovian lord. Like his father, a pro-Austrian by conviction, he contrived even in this respect to carry
with him the nation, often distrustful of the Germans. He avoided serious complications with the
powerful Turks.

Sigismund II mediated for twenty years between the Catholic Church and the Protestants. His most
striking memorial may have been the Union of Lublin, which united Poland and Lithuania into the
Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth—the "Republic of the Two Nations" (Polish: Rzeczpospolita
Obojga Narodów, Lithuanian: Abiejų Tautų Respublika). Also, German-speaking Royal Prussia and
Prussian cities were included. This achievement might well have been impossible without Sigismund.
Marcus Aurelius

This coin in in a VG condition and features the bust of Marcus Aurelius on the obverse with Aequitas
holding scales in right hand and cornucopiae in left hand on the reverse.

Marcus Aurelius was Roman emperor from 161 to 180, ruling jointly with Lucius Verus until Verus'
death in 169 and jointly with his son, Commodus, from 177. He was the last of the so-called Five
Good Emperors and was featured in the movie the Gladiator played by Richard Harris

He was a practitioner of Stoicism, and his untitled writing, commonly known as Meditations, is a
significant source of our modern understanding of ancient Stoic philosophy. It is considered by many
commentators to be one of the greatest works of philosophy.

During his reign, the Roman Empire defeated a revitalized Parthian Empire in the East: Aurelius'
general Avidius Cassius sacked the capital Ctesiphon in 164. In central Europe, Aurelius fought the
Marcomanni, Quadi, and Sarmatians with success during the Marcomannic Wars, although the
threat of the Germanic peoples began to represent a troubling reality for the Empire. A revolt in the
East led by Avidius Cassius failed to gain momentum and was suppressed immediately. Persecution
of Christians increased during his reign.

His death in 180 is considered the end of the Pax Romana (long period of relative peacefulness and
minimal expansion by the Roman military) and the increasing instability in the west that followed
has traditionally been seen as the beginning of the eventual fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Aequitas (genitive aequitatis) is the Latin concept of justice, equality, conformity, symmetry, or
fairness. It is the origin of the English word "equity". In ancient Rome, it could refer to either the
legal concept of equity, or fairness between individuals.

During the Roman Empire, Aequitas as a divine personification was part of the religious propaganda
of the emperor, under the name Aequitas Augusti, which also appeared on coins. She is depicted on
coins holding a cornucopiae and a balance scale (libra), which was more often a symbol of "honest
measure" to the Romans than of justice.
Septimius Severus

This coin in in a G+ condition and features the bust of Septimius Severus on the obverse with
Septimius Severus, veiled, togate, standing left, sacrificing out of patera in right hand over lighted
altar on the reverse.

Septimius (11 April 145 – 4 February 211), also known as Severus, was Roman emperor from 193 to
211. Severus was born in Leptis Magna in the Roman province of Africa. As a young man he
advanced through the cursus honorum—the customary succession of offices—under the reigns of
Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Severus seized power after the death of Emperor Pertinax in 193
during the Year of the Five Emperors.

After deposing and killing the incumbent emperor Didius Julianus, Severus fought his rival claimants,
the Roman generals Pescennius Niger and Clodius Albinus. After consolidating his rule over the
western provinces, Severus waged another brief, more successful war in the east against the
Parthian Empire, sacking their capital Ctesiphon in 197 and expanding the eastern frontier to the
Tigris. Furthermore, he enlarged and fortified the Limes Arabicus in Arabia Petraea. In 202, he
campaigned in Africa and Mauretania against the Garamantes; capturing their capital Garama and
expanding the Limes Tripolitanus along the southern frontier of the empire.

Late in his reign he travelled to Britain, strengthening Hadrian's Wall and reoccupying the Antonine
Wall. In 208 he invaded Caledonia (modern Scotland), but his ambitions were cut short when he fell
fatally ill in late 210. The Roman Empire reached its greatest extent under his reign, encompassing
an area of 2 million square miles (5.18 million square kilometers). Severus died in early 211 at
Eboracum (today York, England), succeeded by his sons Caracalla and Geta. With the succession of
his sons, Severus founded the Severan dynasty, the last dynasty of the empire before the Crisis of
the Third Century.

The reverse of this coin depicts Septimius Severus standing over a flaming altar with an offering
patera in his hand. A patera was a broad, flat, round dish used for drinking and ceremonially, for
offering libations. The reverse bears the inscription, VOTA PVBLICA. There was no "U" in Roman
Latin; a "V" was used instead. In Anglicized Latin the reverse inscription is known as "vota publica".
The term "vota" referred to vows (see later section for more detail). "Vota Publica" refers to vows of
the people, the populace of Rome. This theme commemorates the reign of two emperors embarking
on a joint Consulate, and the vows made for a prosperous joint term in office. In this instance the
title probably refers to the "joint" rule of Septimius (Augustus) and his eldest son Caracalla (elevated
to Caesar in 196 A.D.), though there is some opinion that the joint consulship referred to by the
legend might refer to that of Septimius and his deified predecessor, Pertinax.
VOT type coin

Roman emperors took vows (VOTA) promising to do something for the gods if the gods did
something the emperor wanted. The emperor wanted a long reign, of course, and many coin types
mention "VOT X"-- vows for ten years of reign. Under the empire, vows were noted on coins first
with very rare types under Augustus and then, after a long gap, with Hadrian and many subsequent
emperors. When they are vows made or renewed they are "taken" -- SVSCEPTA (VOTA SVSCEPTA). If
the emperor actually lasts that long, the promise will be "fulfilled"-- SOLVTA (VOTA SOLVTA). Both
taking and fulfilling vows appear on Roman coins.

Religious vows were extraordinarily common among the Romans both in public and private life.
Public vows (vota publica) were sometimes extraordinary, sometimes ordinary. As regards the
former, a religious vow was uttered in times of need, in the name of the State, to the effect that, if
the gods averted the danger, and caused the prosperity of the State to remain unimpaired for the
next five or ten years, a special thank-offering would be paid them, consisting of presents of cattle,
large sacrifices, banquets (lectisternia), a tithe of the booty, a temple, games, etc.

In older times a ver sacrum (q.v.) was also promised. These vows were drawn up in writing under the
direction of the pontifices, recited by the pontifex maximus, and privately rehearsed after him by a
consul or praetor. The pontifex then put away the document in the presence of witnesses, for
purposes of reference when the, vow was executed. Ordinary vows for the good of the State were
offered on the Capitol by the higher officials on entering office (the consuls on January 1st) and on
leaving for their province. This was called the votorum nuncupatio.

Private vows (vota privata) were made on the most varied occasions. They might be solemnly
offered in a temple, or made suddenly in times of momentary peril. In the former case a sealed
writing containing the vow was fastened to the knees of the god's image, and then taken by the
priest of the temple into his keeping, to be opened at the proper time. In the latter case, if the
prayer was fulfilled, the vow had to be most scrupulously executed. The offering was generally
accompanied by a votive tablet, which was placed on the walls of the temple, and contained an
inscription or a relief or a picture relating to the vow.

VOT X abbreviates Votis Decennalibus, which means Crispus has completed vows (prayers and
sacrifices) for ten years of rule. In a religious context, votum, plural vota, is a vow or promise made
to a deity. The word comes from the past participle of voveo, vovere; as the result of the verbal
action, a vow, or promise. It may refer also to the fulfillment of this vow, that is, the thing promised.
The votum is thus an aspect of the contractual nature of Roman religion and sacrifice, a bargaining
expressed by `do ut des` (I give that you might give).

CAESARVM NOSTRORVM = "our caesars"

Chi Rho Coins

The Chi Rho (/ˈkaɪ ˈroʊ/; also known as chrismon or sigla) is one of the earliest forms of christogram,
formed by superimposing the first two (capital) letters—chi and rho (ΧΡ)—of the Greek word
ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ (Christos) in such a way that the vertical stroke of the rho intersects the center of the chi.

The Chi-Rho symbol was used by the Roman emperor Constantine I (r. 306–337) as part of a military
standard (vexillum). Constantine's standard was known as the Labarum. Early symbols similar to the
Chi Rho were the Staurogram ( ) and the IX monogram ( ).

A Labarum is a vexillum (military standard) that displayed the "Chi-Rho" symbol.

Camp Gate Coins

To the man on the 4th century Roman street, one of the most important services of government was
protection from the barbarian invasions that had troubled Rome for over 200 years. This is
evidenced by coin types relating to the military. One popular type is known as the campgate.
Primarily dating to the era of Licinius and Constantine (there are a few nearly a century later) we are
shown a block structure with varying decorations and details. On some, the doors are indicated; on
most the door is merely an opening.

Some are simple block structures; some have other decorations on some of the blocks. On top were
a varying number of beacons (some call them 'turrets') which look like Weber barbecue kettles and
served to signal, by smoke or fire, the next fortification down the line of the frontier. On some gold
issues there are more details of a larger camp. On bronzes, we see a simple tower which may have
been a freestanding outpost or the gate section of a larger fortification. The most common coins of
the campgate series are from the years of civil war or unrest between the Emperors Constantine in
the West and Licinius in the East.