adventures in my head
Ariminum was Roman colony founded 368 BCE. Gorini 2010 gives a full study to the coinage and places its first aes grave series in the period from 264-241 BCE i.e. the First Punic War. He also says that the series is based on a pound of 380g. That’s MUCH heavier than the Roman pound (whatever… Continue reading Ariminum’s heavy pound
A database just spit out this result from my using a search term looking for something quite different. I have such mixed emotions. This should be in a museum, not a private collection. I’ve been to Kolophon. I’ve seen the holes created by speculative digging among the ruins. I’ve seen the primarily subsistence level agriculture… Continue reading Evidence for the weight of the Roman Pound
Update: since writing this post some 5 years ago I’ve continued to work on the problems of the pound. Related posts. I also recommend Riggsby’s Mosaics of Knowledge (OUP 2019). My concerns about Duncan-Jones’ potential overconfidence in his knowledge of the exact weight of the Roman pound (322.8 grams) and thus his reading of… Continue reading 219 out of 410 days: The Roman Pound
I swore I had a post on this topic back from like 2013 when the blog was still anonymous. Can’t find it, so am throwing some info up for future reference. #Scripulum #Scripula #Scrupulum #Scrupula A scruple is a 1/288 division of something, usually a pound, so 1/24th of an ounce or uncia. For the… Continue reading Missing Blog Post on Scruples
I have an old unpublished paper I’m thinking about getting ready for publication as a short article. This is a little investigation into what I’ve missed since I last worked on the topic. Sánchez Madrid, Nuria. “Democracia, concordia y deliberación pública en la « Política » de Aristóteles.” Logos 51 (2018): 35-56. Doi: 10.5209/ASEM.61642 The… Continue reading New Bibliography on Concordia
Suetonius Life of JC, 54 Neither when in command of armies nor as a magistrate at Rome did he show a scrupulous integrity; for as certain men have declared in their memoirs, when he was proconsul in Spain, he not only begged money from the allies, to help pay his debts, but also attacked and… Continue reading Rumors about Julius Caesar and Money
I wanted all my silver plate be extra shiny for the big feast day and I’m avoidant of the time and work of traditional polishing in volume. So, of course I start my biggest stock pot boiling with a mixture of baking soda and strips of aluminum foil and plan on dunking each piece.… Continue reading A Very Minor Thanksgiving ‘Disaster’ Story
Clearly CHRR 8 “In the midst of the ancient Cere that today is called Cerveteri, Mr. Filippo Calabresi digging a ditch at great depth came across a beautiful deposit of aes rude and signatum mentioned above. There were a hundred and sixty-seven pieces of various sizes which all together totaled one hundred and fifty pounds… Continue reading Garrucci on the Cerveteri Finds (CHRR 8, 53 and more?)
I was thinking now about Santa Marinella 1927 (CHRR 21) and thus I came across this great article on Pyrgi finds (see below for map illustrating how close the two sites are). The author spends most of her time on the lead ingots, but obviously I’m really intrigued by the aes rude in a pot… Continue reading ‘monetary’ ritual deposits at Pyrgi
This hoard of silver is Tivoli and thought to be late republican in date. You can go see it in the Met in NYC. My interest (today) is in the reported weights and the inscriptions on one of the two cups and the ladle as reported in: Oliver, Andrew Jr. 1965. “Two Hoards of Republican… Continue reading Republican Silverware Weights
