Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Coins for the dead is a form of respect for the dead or bereavement. The practice began in classical antiquity when people believed the dead needed coins to pay a ferryman to cross the river Styx. In modern times the practice has been observed in the United States and Canada: visitors leave coins on the gravestones of former military personnel. [1]
So-called "ghost coins" also appear with the dead. These are impressions of an actual coin or numismatic icon struck into a small piece of gold foil. [73] In a 5th- or 4th-century BC grave at Syracuse, Sicily, a small rectangular gold leaf stamped with a dual-faced figure, possibly Demeter/Kore, was found in the skeleton's mouth.
In ancient Greece, it was generally reckoned as 1 ⁄ 6 drachma (c. 0.72 grams or 11 grains). [ 14 ] [ 15 ] Under Roman rule, it was defined as 1 ⁄ 48 Roman ounce or about 0.57 g (9 gr). [ 16 ] The apothecaries' system also reckoned the obol or obolus as 1 ⁄ 48 ounce or 1 ⁄ 2 scruple .
A single coin buried with the dead and made of silver or gold is often referred to as a danake and presumed to be a form of Charon's obol. Numismatists have also found the danake an elusive coin to identify, speculating that the Greeks used the term loosely for a demonetized coin of foreign origin.
A British man who found a massive cache of ancient Roman gold and silver coins while hunting with a metal detector has a lot more modern currency in his pocket after the treasure was auctioned off ...
The three most important standards of the ancient Greek monetary system were the Attic standard, based on the Athenian drachma of 4.3 grams (2.8 pennyweights) of silver, the Corinthian standard based on the stater of 8.6 g (5.5 dwt) of silver, that was subdivided into three silver drachmas of 2.9 g (1.9 dwt), and the Aeginetan stater or didrachm of 12.2 g (7.8 dwt), based on a drachma of 6.1 g ...
Here are the top six coins, ranked in order of the sale price, with descriptions from Stack’s Bowers: 1825/4/1 Capped Head Left Half Eagle: With only three known to exist, this rare coin fetched ...
Another spell for a man's going out into the day against his foes in the realm of the dead. [9] 11. Spell for going out against a foe in the realm of the dead. [9] 12. Spell for going in and out. [9] 13. Spell for going in and out of the West. [9] 14. Spell for removing anger from the heart of the god. [10] 15. A hymn to the sun-god.