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Studying Coins from the Ancient World

Professor Kevin Butcher from the Department of Classics and Ancient History at Warwick takes a closer look at coins from the ancient world and discovers new meanings and insight into the lives of emperors, nobles and ordinary people from this time in history.

The Roman Mill at Barbegal

13:05 Wed 05 Jun 2013

The astonishing water mill complex at Barbegal in Provence used to be considered a product of late antiquity, but the discovery of a coin of Trajan (AD 98-117) embedded in the plaster of the aqueduct has led to reconsideration.

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Secrets of the Roman Mint

13:04 Wed 05 Jun 2013

Professor Kevin Butcher and Dr Matthew Ponting discuss the technique used by the Roman mints to disguise the quality of the silver coinage and how to analyse the coins.

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Nero plays the lyre

13:03 Wed 05 Jun 2013

Does this coin depict the emperor Nero as a musician, or does it show the god Apollo instead?

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Roman Coins with Prof Kevin Butcher - The Fall of Sejanus

14:57 Mon 09 May 2011

Professor Kevin Butcher from the Department of Classics and Ancient History looks at a coin minted in the Spanish city of Bilbilis in AD 31 and how it records the rise and fall of Emperor Tiberius' henchman Sejanus.

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Ancient, Classics, History

Numismatics: the study of coins and currency.

14:52 Mon 09 May 2011

Kevin Butcher and Stan Ireland from the Department of Classics and Ancient History discuss the fascinating story of money in the classical world.

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Ancient, Classics, History

Classical Coins with Prof Kevin Butcher - The Temples of Baalbek

14:52 Mon 09 May 2011

Professor Kevin Butcher from the Department of Classics and Ancient History looks at whether classical coins help us reconstruct the original appearance of the giant temples of Heliopolis (modern Baalbek) in Lebanon?

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Ancient, Classics, History

Egyptian Coins with Prof Kevin Butcher - Antony and Cleopatra

14:53 Mon 09 May 2011

Professor Kevin Butcher from the Department of Classics and Ancient History examines coins from the reign of Cleopatra as evidence of what she looked like.

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Ancient, Classics, History

Roman Coins with Prof Kevin Butcher - Nero and Agrippina

14:53 Mon 09 May 2011

Professor Kevin Butcher from the Department of Classics and Ancient History looks at why Agrippina seem to be given precedence over her son Nero on the earliest coins of his reign?

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Ancient, Classics, History

Roman Coins with Prof Kevin Butcher - Render unto Caesar

14:53 Mon 09 May 2011

Professor Kevin Butcher from the Department of Classics and Ancient History examines a Roman coin and asks: What was the tribute penny of the Bible?

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Ancient, Classics, History

Roman Coins with Prof Kevin Butcher - Caligula and his Sisters

14:53 Mon 09 May 2011

Professor Kevin Butcher from the Department of Classics and Ancient History examines a brass sestertius of Caligula which provides contemporary proof of the high regard the emperor had for his three sisters.

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Ancient, Classics, History

Dating the Birth of Jesus and the 'first Christmas' with a Herodian Coin

14:53 Mon 09 May 2011

Professor Kevin Butcher from the Dept of Classics and Ancient History explores how a coin issued by Herod Antipas suggests the dating system devised by sixth-century monk, Dionysius Exiguus, and associated with the nativity of Jesus may be incorrect.

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Ancient, Classics, History