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Probus was much like any new emperor in this time period; he rose to power within the military and was declared emperor by his troops in 276 CE after the death of Tacitus. He spent much of his time on campaign and rarely visited the city of Rome.…

The first Ptolemy, Ptolemy I Soter, was elected satrap of Egypt after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE. In 305, he declared himself king of Egypt and started the Ptolemaic dynasty that would rule for almost three-hundred years.

This…

Ptolemy II Philadelphos was the first of the Ptolemy’s to adopt the title of Pharaoh. This was not the only custom he acquired from the Egyptians as he also married his sister, a practice that was usually taboo among the Greeks. Similar to what…

This coin shows the traditional standard markings of a denarius: Roma on the obverse and the Dioscuri on the reverse. After the next few years, the standard changed to reflect whatever the moneyers cared to feature on their coins.

Raphael here has depicted the council of the gods in which Jupiter decides to accept Psyche and Mercury gives her the drink of immortality.

Salonina was the wife of Gallienus. Sadly, we do not know too much about her life. Juno Regina was an appropriate figure to grace the reverse of coins featuring the wives of emperors. The wife of Jupiter, she is heralded as the queen of the gods. The…