Ancient Roman coins unearthed at Japan castle

AFP ^ | 28 September 2016 | AFP

[bigdaddy45]

Thanks for my first good laugh of the day..... :)

[Godebert]

From the article: "X-ray analysis confirmed the find. On one side, they bear the likeness of Roman emperor Constantine the Great, who died in 372; on the other, a spear-bearing soldier."

Constantine the Great died in 337 A.D. They were only off by 35 years.

[hanamizu]

Some emperors were really diabolical about it. The mints would issue silver covered bronzes (fourée) that had to be accepted, but refused them when taxes were due. Cutting the percentage of silver in the coin was also a common trick. (Oddly, the gold coins used to pay soldiers retained their purity). The later coins, like we’re discussing weren’t really meant to deceive, everyone knew by that time that they were dealing with fiat currency.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 9/28/2016. Thanks Theoria.

• Roman coins discovered in ruins of Japanese castle [09/28/2016 11:56:53 AM PDT]
• Roman coins ID'd in Japanese ruins, but their origin baffles [10/18/2016 7:08:04 PM PDT]

[Red Badger]

There was a Roman era galley found in mud in a river in Vietnam IIRC.......................

[SunkenCiv]

This wouldn’t come as a surprise to me — in the Han Court records, a trade mission from the Roman Empire was found, even naming the correct emperor (Marcus Aurelius, transliterated). And the Chinese sent a trade mission during the early years of Hadrian’s reign (the catamite-loving pajama boy Hadrian had already abandoned Mesopotamia) which missed.

Remains of a Roman ship in Vietnam, that sounds familiar, but I turned up nothing about that in particular.

https://english.vietnamnet.vn/fms/art-entertainment/114502/10-ancient-ships-found-in-binh-chau-waters—archaeologists.html
https://archaeologynewsnetwork.blogspot.com/2014/10/ten-shipwrecks-found-in-vietnam-waters.html

[<1/1,000,000th%]

The Romans traded ambassadors with China so its not a stretch that their coins made it to Japan.

[Godebert]

The Roman coins were minted in the 4th century and the Japanese castle was built in the 14th century. The Roman coins were already 1,000 years old when they were deposited at the site.

[SunkenCiv]

Romans in Okinawa - Japan? | Dr Raoul McLaughlin