The Vault of History

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This silver Roman coin is from the reign of Emperor Hadrian, who is most famous for building a wall in northern Britain to keep out a group called the Picts. Hadrian ruled from 117-138 CE. Do you want to know more? Click here!

This silver Roman coin, called a Denarius, is from the reign of Emperor Trajan (98-117 CE). He was known as a great emperor and he presided over the second largest expansion the empire ever had. He is also known for having Trajan's Column built, which tells the story of Rome's victory in the Dacian Wars. I have a Dacian warrior in the "History's Warriors" exhibit . Check it out!

This coin, from the reign of Constantius II, is bronze, instead of silver. Over the centuries, the Roman Empire gradually added silver to their coins until the coins were basically worthless! Constantius II was the son of Constantine the Great, who was the first Christian Roman Emperor.

This bronze coin is from Egypt and it dates back to 283-246 BCE! Ptolemy II was the son of Ptolemy, who was one of Alexander the Great's best generals. Ptolemy took over Egypt when Alexander died. The coin was minted in Alexandria and it depicts Zeus on one side and an eagle on the other.

This silver coin dates back to 238-250 CE. You can see the Greek influence on the coin because they put their leader's face on it. This is a great example of the influence of Alexander the Great and how he spread Greek culture all over the region!

I put this coin in the collection because I wanted to have a coin that students could hold and look at without worrying about harming the value! This coin is over 2000 years old and it shows! Most coins from this long ago that still exist are in similar condition because of their age. It shows how great the other collection coins look! Can you look up coins from this era in Greece and find what it is? Let me know your guess!

These coins come from Judea around the time of Jesus. In the New Testament Gospels of Luke and Mark is one of the most famous passages of The Bible that has come to be known as “the lesson of the widow’s mite”. It is about a poor widow who offered two small copper coins in a church’s offering, while people with more money around her made much larger offerings.

When Jesus observed this happening at the Temple in Jerusalem, he said (according to Luke):

“Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.”

This is a coin from Alexander the Great's Empire. He was one of the greatest military leaders in the history of the world. His empire spread from the Mediterranean Sea to India. Alexander was known for blending Greek culture with the cultures of the places he conquered. Also, he built cities everywhere he went and usually named them Alexandria! He built more than 50 cities named Alexandria! The most famous is in Egypt.

This coin is from the Han Dynasty in China and was minted sometime from 118 BCE- 200 CE. The Han Dynasty is known its long reign and its achievements, which included the development of the civil service and government structure; scientific advancements such as the invention of paper, use of water clocks and sundials to measure time, and development of a seismograph. These coins had a hole in the middle so they could be carried on a string!

This is my favorite coin in the collection because of who the leader of China was when the coin was minted. The leader was Shi Huangdi (or Qin Shi Huang) and he was the first emperor of a unified China. He was the first and only Qin (pronounced Chin) Emperor. He was so influential, China was named after him. He is the most famous leader in the history of China!

This is another one of my favorite coins in the collection! It doesn't even look like a coin! This coin is from before coins were even round! It still had a hole in it, so it could be carried with other coins on a string and it was also made out of bronze. However, it is vastly different than what we traditionally think of as a coin. The Zhou Dynasty even had knife-shaped coins! I need to get one of those! Do you want to know more? Go here!

I love this coin, too! It's so old, it's also not even round-shaped! This is called proto-money, because it is a very early example of money. The people from this region loved the sea and dolphins. They love them so much that they made their money in the shape of a dolphin! Do you want to know more? Click here.