Visited Sardis several times when I was assigned to a Nato base in Izmir. Since I visited the temple site, my gut kept telling me there is a tomb filled with gold at the base of the mountain. Somehow it is related to Alexander.Generally ancient tombs had little in them due to the fact that they’d be looted. The so-called Treasury of Atreus — a spectacular example of Mycenaean corbelled dome — was more than likely built as a tomb and probably loaded with riches. There’s not even an old local tradition of how the place was raided, and literally nothing remains inside the thing, other than air. :’) The locals always find stuff and loot it for their own benefit (which, face it, most of us would too) and they’ve had centuries to do so. I’d like to think that there’s *something* around just waiting, but it’s not too likely. :’)
I guess Roman coins pretty well used Imperator portraits rather than symbolic pictures starting with Julius Caesar. Some did have dates in the form ‘in the xth year in the Consulship of a and b’, I believe.
Visited Sardis several times when I was assigned to a Nato base in Izmir. Since I visited the temple site, my gut kept telling me there is a tomb filled with gold at the base of the mountain. Somehow it is related to Alexander.