Athenian Owl Help - Please Help Someone Who Knows Nothing

Darn, JW, you take your Romans pretty seriously

I do not think none of us can challenge, here, with our expertise, any of the current theories regarding the first coins struck. But Romans surely did not invent them... Greece (numismatically (not ethnologically) speaking...) had them before. You think that the Romans copied the Chinese ?

I like both, for different reasons, but Greek coins speak more to me (even if I can't understand a word they say)

Oh no, dont worry. This conversation is intereting. I'm a history buff myself- though I'm very weak on the older civilizations. I'm usually more interested in Post 18th Century History, but I have a soft spot for the Romans. I'm an engineering student, so their innovations are amazing to me. I could go on for hours about their aquaducts.

Greece is cool too-but I dont really know much about them. This forum and the hunt for a good coin has taught me a lot!

Hey, if you guys really don't like those Romans I'll take em no problem.

Just kidding!! lol

I probably would purchase some Greek coins except that most of the decent grade coins are far too expensive for me to own. Perhaps some of you guys are aware that I mainly collect Roman Imperial coins. Although I have a few other coins from other regions and eras as well.

My favorites are definitely Roman Imperials.

I have no problem that perhaps the Greeks invented coins, or at least they may be the first ones to use them on a large scale in the European region. What they passed on to others and the Romans were in turn passed on to modern countries eventually. I think some Greek coins are highly artistic. So are Roman coins. I think it's a matter of artistic style of either empire that might appeal to some.

Its true that Herodotus believed most of the Greek gods were based on Egyptian ones (though writing 1000 years after the event) and 'brought' to Greece around 1450 BC. An exception would be Poseidon who is thought to derive from the Phoenician Sea God Yah. That would make sense, the Phoenicians were great seafarers and a sea god would be very important to them.

The Asia Minor part would tie in, in part to the Proto-Indo-Europeans, who, although little is known about them seem to be one of the earliest groups responsible for spreading technology and culture to Europe and Asia.

I think its more of a stance that this 'had to have happened' rather than there being overwhelming evidence for it. Personally I think its probably correct. Unfortunately ancient history (pre Greek) is often quite messy and non-linear so its hard to say anything that indisputable.

I see this Roman/Greek competition among collectors of ancient coins more as a running gag than anything with any substantial seriousness. I also think that the Celtic coins (among others) can be of the highest beauty (my motivation is more aesthetic than historic), but I can't afford to look everywhere at the same time.

My heritage does not play a big role in my collecting. I can trace all of my ancestors to the start of the colony, and all of them originally came from France. Personnaly, I'm not more inclined to collect French coins (or Roman coins) because of that, but that's just me

Bobbyhelmet--that's sure an interesting artifact! Last winter, I had visited all the antiquity museums of Norway, and have not seen anything similar from the late bronze age--so obviously there are big gaps in my knowledge of the greater Norse culture. The Trundholm sun chariot, that's a very interesting cultural object--that certainly predates any Greco-Roman artifacts I've seen. We're lucky to have so many objects survive as bog sacrifices.

Count me as one of the Roman coin enthusiasts

I just think its really cool to have coins from one of the most powerful ancient empires to have existed on Earth and which had a fascinating history, from beginning to end. Plus I get to collect coins of many well-known emperors and officials that, before, I've only read about in textbooks. But its not only the history; aesthetics of course helps decide what coins I will buy. With Greek coins, I agree, many are beautiful and I like to think ancient Greeks were paying with works of art than coins, but the nice-looking ones are out of my budget and nearly all low-cost budget examples I've seen are too crappy for my tastes. Also, the history of ancient Greece, I find parts of it interesting, but I can't help to think sometimes that all they did was sit around and study philosophy and get into the occasional war (I know that's not true but I can't get that thought out of my head). The fact that the history of Greek coinage isn't linear doesn't help either.


Same here. Sometimes I like to think my ancestors held in their hands some of the coins that are now in my collection. A bit weird I know, but its a nice thought