Alexander Not So Great?

I was sifting through a few ancient Greek and Roman coin articles and encountered the following story written by Lee Dye, writer for ABC news. I was immediately intrigued by the article as I think you will be. Mr Dye suggests the young Alexander's accomplishments may not have been as great as the name implies. Please click on to read the article in its entirety: http://tinyurl.com/2gawqk

Ancient Coin Undermines Legend Of Cleopatra's Beauty

I stumbled across the following article issued by the Associated Press and I thought you might find it as interesting as I did. I give full credit to the AP for the article. The article did not contain the writer's name.

So maybe Mark Antony loved Cleopatra for her mind. That is the conclusion being drawn by academics at Britain's University of Newcastle from a Roman denarius coin which depicts the celebrated queen of Egypt as a sharp-nosed, thin-lipped woman with a protruding chin. In short, a fair match for the hook-nosed, thick-necked Mark Antony on the other side of the coin, which went on public display Wednesday at the university's Shefton Museum.

"The image on the coin is far from being that of Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton," said Lindsay Allason-Jones, director of archaeological museums at the university, recalling the 1963 film "Cleopatra", which ignited the tempestuous romance between the two stars.
The notion that Cleopatra was not in Taylor's league was hailed as a revelation in British newspapers on Valentine's Day, though the image is hardly a discovery.
Replicas of the denarius can be found on eBay, and images on other ancient coins are no more flattering.

Plutarch, in the "Life of Antony" written a century after the great romance, said of Cleopatra: "her actual beauty, it is said, was not in itself so remarkable that none could be compared with her."
"But the contact of her presence, if you lived with her, was irresistible; the attraction of her person, joining with the charm of her conversation, and the character that attended all she said or did, was something bewitching. It was a pleasure merely to hear the sound of her voice..."
Chaucer, writing in the 14th century, described her as "fair as is the rose in May."

Shakespeare outdid them all: "Age cannot wither her, nor custom stale her infinite variety; other women cloy the appetites they feed, but she makes hungry where most she satisfies."

I hope you enjoyed the article and I invite response.. God Bless.. Jerry..

Do Your Know Your Roman Gods and Goddesses? Take This Little Quiz

Here is a little true and false test I created to see how well you know your gods and goddesses. You will find the answers at the end of the test. Do not peek! I have established a ranking for you. Less that three missed: go to the Head of the Table. If you miss five or less you receive an honorable mention. Miss more than five.. well you need a bit of work on your Greek/Roman history!

1) T or F: Jupiter was the Roman counterpart of Zeus?
2) T or F: Titan was the father of Uranus?
3) T or F: Ops was the goddess of Wisdom?
4) T or F: Persephone in Greek and Roman religion mythology was Queen of the underworld?

5) T or F: Pluto was the Greek god of death?
6) T or F: Cupid was the goddess of love?
7) T or F: Aphrodite was the daughter of Zeus and Dione?
8) T or F: Apollo was the Geek son of Ares?
9) T or F: The Roman counterpart of Pan was Mercury?
10) T or F: Bacchus was the son of Semele?
11) T or F: Mars was Roman mythological god of war?
12) T or F: Neptune was the Greek god the Sea?
13) T or F: Ceres was the Roman goddess of agriculture?
14) T or F: Hestia was the goddess of the hearth?
15) T or F: In Roman religion Ops was the goddess of harvests?
16) T or F: Ares was the Greek son of Zeus and Hera?
17) T or F: Diana was the goddess of hunting?
18) T or F: Saturn was a Greek god of harvests?
19)T or F: Eros was the Greek god of love?
29) T or F: Dionysus was the Greek god of wine and fertility?

Remember, don’t read this part until you have finished the True and False questions above. I hope you enjoyed. Please let me know and bookmark my site please.

(1 T) (2 T) (3 F) ( 4 T) ( 5 F) (6 F) (7 T) (8 F) (9 F) (10 T) (11 T) (12 F) (13 T) (14 T) (15 T) (16 T) (17 T) (18 F) (19 T) (2o F)

The Myth Of The Melted Coins!

Once and for all I want to quash the myth that one will or can “burn” ancient coins using electrolysis. I will qualify this statement by saying that I can assure you your coins will not be “burned” if you follow my directions as outlined and communicated by our Coin Zappers group. The URL is as follows: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/coinzappers

I have had people tell me they knew someone who told them that “zapping” ruins coins. I state emphatically and without equivocation that this has never happened to me. I have zapped between 5000 and 6000 coins at this point and I still zap almost every day. I have worked for years developing the best method I know for cleaning coins and that method is electrolysis. I have never scorched or “burned” a coin.

I have no interest in ruining my coins so I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours experimenting with electrolysis. I have had individuals tell me they have melted coins using electrolysis! Cannot happen if you follow my directions. What kind of heat would one have to create using a 12-volt DC power supply in order to melt a coin? The act itself would violate all known laws of physics! Click on and take a look at the pile of coins I cleaned using my zapping techniques: http://tinyurl.com/2cg8cz They hardly appear to be melted, scorched or burned coins.

I will qualify the above by saying that I am sure there are those who have exposed profound pitting beneath the surface of an encrusted coin. If the coin has “rotted’ in the ground then there is no way to restore the pitting and that includes zapping.

If one joins Coin Zappers and follows all the directions as outlined, I can assure you that you will get great results. I repeat- “use our methods!” If you want to have success and clean ancient coins using the kindest method I know then join us at Coin Zappers. This thing about melting coins with 12 volts DC has become somewhat of an urban legend in the coin world. It is tiem to put this myth to bed. I would love to see feedback from those who know something I don’t know. You have a standing invitaion from me to join us at CZ. Just say, “Jerry sent me.” God Bless.. Jerry..

Collecting Silver Coins: Nice Site

Hi! I found a site I am enjoying very much and I think many readers will enjoy also. Please take a look and let me know what you think. God Bless.. Jerry..

Collecting old and rare gold and silver coins is a hobby for many people worldwide and because of this fact there are also many rare silver and gold coins for sale
in numismatic marketplaces like eBay and other sites where sellers and buyers meet.

Unfortunately there are also many counterfeit coins worldwide for sale who are mostly made in various Asian countries. These counterfeit coins are sometimes from such a good quality that it is very difficult to identify them as a counterfeit coin
if your not a real coin expert. Please click on to continue reading: http://www.silver-coins.org/

"Ancient Rome Returns To Life"

Full credit is given to Mr. Stephen Brown and to Yahoo for the following article. I hope you enjoy as much as I did. Shawn, thanks for bringing the article to my attention.

By Stephen Brown Mon Jun 11, 10:17 AM ET
ROME (Reuters) - Tourists puzzled by the jumble of buildings in classical and modern Rome can now find their bearings by visiting a virtual model of the imperial capital in what is being billed as the world's biggest computer simulation of an ancient city.
Rome Reborn" was unveiled on Monday in a first release showing the city at its peak in 320 AD, under the Emperor Constantine when it had grown to a million inhabitants.

Brainchild of the University of Virginia's Bernard Frischer, Rome Reborn (www.romereborn.virginia.edu) will eventually show its evolution from Bronze Age hut settlements to the Sack of Rome in the 5th century AD and the devastating Gothic Wars.
Reproduced for tourists on satellite-guided handsets and 3-D orientation movies in a theatre to be opened near the Colosseum, Frischer says his model "will prepare them for their visit to the Colosseum, the Forum, the imperial palaces on the Palatine, so that they can understand the ruins a lot better."

"We can take people under the Colosseum and show them how the elevators worked to bring the animals up from underground chambers for the animal hunts they held," he said, referring to the great Roman amphitheatre inaugurated by Titus in 80 AD.

Frischer's model is sourced from ancient maps and building catalogues detailing "apartment buildings, private houses, inns, storage facilities, bakeries and even brothels," plus digital images of the vast "Plastico di Roma Antica" model built from plaster of Paris in 1936-74, which measures 16 by 17 meters.

The "reverse modeling" by Frischer and the Politecnico di Milano and University of Florence enables scholars to populate ancient monuments with virtual reality figures for experiments on practical details like ventilation, capacity or acoustics.

"For example, in scholarly literature the Colosseum has a great reputation for being a great people mover where people could find their seats very quickly. But estimates of the carrying capacity vary wildly from 35,000 to 78,000," he said.

Engineers have populated his model with virtual spectators to narrow down that estimate to 48,000-50,000 people.

The model can also show how the Romans, who worshipped the sun and moon, aligned their buildings with the summer solstice.

Ancient Coin Enthusiasts: Please Try Photobucket

I shall try to keep this simple for people who do not know who or what Photobucket.com is all about. Photobucket is a user friendly video and image hosting service. I had no problem joining and uploading images. This alone speaks volumes about the ease of use! Photobucket.com is a totally free site for your use, although if you wish to upgrade you can, but that will cost. I will only address the freebie side of the program. The first thing to do is to go to Photobucket.com and sign in. Signing in is a very simple and painless procedure and once done you can easily use this site for many different purposes. I will discuss a couple now.

Adding Pictures

When you have signed into photobucket you will be on the home page and this is where you start to make photo albums by adding pictures you want. Click on Browse, it will take you to your folders. Choose the folder you want and the picture you want to upload. Click on your chosen picture, click open, and this will now show back to the home page. At this point you can add a description to your picture, so once you have typed in your description click submit. The upload takes place and if you have proceesed properly, you will see * Photo Successfully Uploaded. *

Image uploading

You can do a single image upload or Multiple image uploads from computer, uploading with the windows upload tool, and mobile/Email, including FTP and windows XP Publisher. I created an album for test purposes and everything went as smooth as silk. I think you ancient coin hobbyists will really appreciate the program. One can create different albums to meet different needs.

I have been using flickr.com but there is something I really like about Photobucket. For one thing, I think flickr is a bit glitzy for my taste. Photobucket.com has much more of a "bread and butter" feel. Please load it up, give it a try and let me know what you think. Thank you for reading.. God Bless.. Jerry..