Ancient Films CONTEST real denarius for prize!

[Caius Fabius]

Eureka!<br>
<br>
store.yahoo.com/ihf/22789.html <p>"Just before class started, I looked in the big book where all the world's history is written, and it said...." Neil J. Hackett, PhD ancient history, professor OSU, 1987</p><i></i>

[Caius Fabius]

Scipio Africanus film, Black and White 85 minutes<br>
1000's of extras <br>
cruelty to elephants<br>
armor and shields? (not bad for 1937 I guess)<br>
The costuming is from okay to atrocious!<br>
<br>
Best part? 1000's o extras as INFANTRY moving in formations and lines, and NOT MARCHING in step! Now there is some evidence on film for the idea that romans did not necessarily have to march in step to move from place to place in formations on the battlefield! Don't believe me? Spend $30 and get the film! <p></p><i>Edited by: <A HREF=http://pub45.ezboard.com/bromanarmytalk.showUserPublicProfile?gid=caiusfabius>Caius Fabius</A> <IMG HEIGHT=10 WIDTH=10 SRC="http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ROMANISROMANORVM/files/C%20Fabius%201988b.jpg" BORDER=0> at: 2/9/03 3:18:25 am<br></i>

[John Maddox Roberts]

Caius:<br>
Just got my coin. Thanks! It's going to be fun trying to figure it out. So far, I can tell the obverse has a protrait of a guy, maybe with a beard, posibly wearing a helmet. The reverse has a figure that may be Victory. I'll have to wait for full daylight and use my magnifying glass to see if there's any more detail. I love doing stuff like this! <p></p><i></i>

[Caius Fabius]

I admit it, John, I just pulled it from the unlooked at but somewhat "cleaned" jars. It looked big and at a swift glance, I didn't think it was identifiable as anything rare. Maybe you'll prove me wrong. I have a couple of hundred (plus) here to identify, just in case I get snowed in. <br>
The winner of the identified silver denarius still hasn't gotten me his address! I hope he is not stranded in North Carolina without electricity! EM<br>
<p></p><i></i>

[Muzzaguchi]

Hi Caius!<br>
<br>
As we say in Latin Simpsons Do_us, Do_a, Do_um!!! I am a very tardy irresponsible RAT member!!! I do apologise for not viewing this thread since about the 25th of November! I have sent my details to your hotmail and I do hope I haven't spoilt anything by my tardiness!! DE EM<br>
<br>
I am very happy to have won and to have found a film you had not seen - although true dedication on your part for tracking it down! I didn't even click to your review thread being related to this one<br>
<br>
I am sure there are other films out there for us to find. Recently I have been looking for operas based on Roman history as a way of examining the changing popular and artistic interpretations of ancient (especially Roman) history.<br>
<br>
Thus far I have found operas of Nero from 1924, 1909 (an opera of Quo Vadis) and 1936 (Mascagni I think it was his last). Taken with far more famous 19th Century ones (Attila, Norma, Les Troyens, ) and earlier ones (Handel, Mozart, Monteverdi ...) they make a most interesting corpus - This is perhaps another thread.<br>
<br>
So, as I have a habbit of ranting, I will stop and simply restate my pleasure in this thread.<br>
<br>
Cheers<br>
<br>
Muzzaguchi / Murray <p>It is an unscrupulous intellect that does not pay Antiquity its due reverence - Erasmus of Rotterdam<br>
<br>
'Modern history, like a deaf man, answers questions no one asks' - Tolstoy War and Peace Ep. ii.1</p><i></i>

[John Maddox Roberts]

Caius:<br>
I showed the coin to a numismatist friend yesterday. He thinks it's an as of Antoninus Pius with a figure of a goddess on the reverse, possibly Fortuna (he thinks he can make out a cornucopia). He's taken it home to check against his books. Maybe I'll know in a month or so. <p></p><i></i>

[Caius Fabius]

Of course, we can continue this thread without coins.<br>
<br>
I just watched a DVD of "Asterix and Obelix against Caesar". It is very funny, and the Roman armor is better than many "serious" films, even though it is not "period". The subtitles are hilarious, they almost get the idea across, if you remember they were translated from French to English by a underpaid Chinese translator.<br>
<br>
<br>
We enjoyed the new year by watching the film episode of "Up Pompeii", and then looking at some other "bad" films. It was great fun and I hope everyone finds at least one new film title to add to our list of Roman films! <p></p><i></i>

[Jeroen Pelgrom]

Salve,<br>
<br>
can't believe that i have missed this one!! a real roman coin..<br>
*sigh* oh well, better luck next time.<br>
Some movies that i liked :<br>
<br>
- Quo Vadis (1951) - haven't seen the 1902/ 1912 or 1924 versions yet..)<br>
- Cabiria (1914)<br>
- Die Nibelungen (1924)<br>
- The Ten Commandments (1923)<br>
- Ben Hur (1925)<br>
- Intolerance (1916)<br>
- The Last Days of Pompeii (1913)<br>
<br>
gr, jeroen<br>
<br>
<br>
<p></p><i></i>

[John Maddox Roberts]

Caius:<br>
Just got the coin back from my numismatist friend. He returned it in a little plastic case compete with a neatly typed label with arcane numismatic abbreviations. Translated, it is roughly thus:<br>
Bronze As of Antoninus Pius (A.D. 138-161)<br>
Obverse: profile of the emperor wearing a laurel wreath<br>
Reverse: Fortuna with a cornucopia in one hand, in the other an orb or possibly a patera (no kidding. It was one of her attributes, but so was the wheel. apparently this is too small to be her wheel.<br>
Mint of Rome<br>
SEAR 1194 (this, apparently is a catalogue number)<br>
BMC 1376 (I forgot what he said this means. British Museum something, maybe?)<br>
SEAR 1981 F...(picture a pound symbol here) 12<br>
This means that, in the 1981 edition of the big coin book, in fine condition this was worth 12 quid. In the condition it's now in, it's a $2 coin.<br>
My friend usually charges a $5 appraisal fee (free this time) so the appraisal costs 2 1/2 times the value of the coin.<br>
But this is great. In what other field can you own something so historical, so evocative, so utterly cool for just two bucks?<br>
Grtting back to the movies, we could note some odd casting coincidences. For instance: David Hemmings, who was the hero in "Alfred the Great," was the fruity, bewigged Master of Ceremonies in the Colosseum in "Gladiator." Anybody notice any other strange juxtapositions? <p></p><i></i>

[Caius Fabius]

<br>
yes, coins have several different "standard numbers" much like Roman helmets. The Sear books are one way of identifying a coin, the British Museum catalog is another, and there are a couple more. The reason you usually have to charge to identify coins is two-fold, first it takes time, and second, the reference books are expensive! I spent more on coin reference books than on Robinson's Roman armour books and the Bishop/Coulson Roman armour book combined, and still need a few more to have a good set of reference books!<br>
I am glad you got a coin that was identifiable! I am currently looking for coins that show military standards on the reverse. Most of the ones I have have the reverse as a biga or chariot. Another amusement of mine is finding M. Antonius "legionary" denari in enough decent shape that you can tell which legion it was minted for!<br>
<p>"Just before class started, I looked in the big book where all the world's history is written, and it said...." Neil J. Hackett, PhD ancient history, professor OSU, 1987</p><i></i>