Posted on 04/21/2023 11:08:53 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
A hoard of 175 silver coins unearthed in a forest in Italy may have been buried for safe keeping during a Roman civil war.
The coins seem to date from 82 B.C., the year the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla fought a bloody war across Italy against his enemies among the leaders of the Roman Republic, which resulted in Sulla's victory and his ascension as dictator of the Roman state.
But historian Federico Santangelo, a professor who heads Classics and Ancient History at Newcastle University in the United Kingdom, said it also could have been buried by a businessman who wanted to keep his money safe during turbulent times... Santangelo was not involved in the discovery...
Researchers discovered the coin hoard buried in a terracotta pot in 2021 but kept it secret so that the site could be completely investigated.
Lorella Alderighi, an archaeologist with the provincial office for archaeology, told Live Science the coins were discovered by a member of an archaeological group in a newly-cut area of forest northeast of the city of Livorno in Tuscany. Archaeological investigations revealed the earliest coins dated from 157 or 156 B.C., while the most recent were from 83 or 82 B.C., she said.
The area was probably forested then as it is now, on a small hill overlooking a swamp. The remains of a Roman farm had previously been found about half a mile (1 kilometer) away, she said...
A few years earlier, Italy had been gripped by the Social War between Rome and its Italian allies, while in 82 B.C. Sulla had just returned with his legions from Asia to confront his enemies in Rome, having already attacked the city in 88 B.C. and been declared a public enemy in 87 B.C.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
LOL!
Go to the military cemetery. Find the grave marked unknown. In the grave just to the right of it, you’ll find the coins.
You’re welcome. ~ Blondie
Has to be the unknown next to Arch Stanton. lol
A few years earlier, Italy had been gripped by the Social War between Rome and its Italian allies,
They served tea and crumpets.
[snip] The Social War (from Latin bellum sociale, properly ‘war of the allies’), also called the Italian War or the Marsic War, was fought from 91 to 87 BC between the Roman Republic and several of its autonomous allies (socii) in Italy. The Italian allies wanted Roman citizenship, not only for the status and influence that came with it, but also for the right to vote in Roman elections and laws. They believed that they should be treated equally to the Romans, given that they had formed cultural and linguistic connections with the Roman civilization, and had been their loyal allies for over two centuries. The Romans strongly opposed their demands, and refused to grant them citizenship, thus leaving the socii with fewer rights and privileges. [/snip]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_War_(91%E2%80%9387_BC)
The weight of the silver is its only demarcation of value today.
It would be nice if they unearthed a price list of things, maybe Pompeii, that would tell us of the value of the coins at that time....................
https://freerepublic.com/focus/chat/4148065/posts?page=8#8
https://www.britannica.com/place/Alba-Fucens
Under the big “W”.
lol
“Notice that pure silver doesn’t tarnish”
It does.
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