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Ancient coin sites emphasizing a particular Roman emperor
This page has two categories of sites.
1) General sites which can be searched for coins of particular emperors, and
2) Sites devoted to particular emperors. (Skip down to this list.)
What's new? 2024, Nov. 2: A Numis Forums thread on Orbiana (wife of Severus Alexander):
https://www.numisforums.com/topic/7717-an-overview-of-the-coinage-for-orbiana/
2023, April 17: A huge collection of Probus by barnaba6.
2023, March 24: A collection of Commodus. Also, his Roman provincial coins.
Checked for broken links Jan. 22, 2023. If you find a broken link, let me know. Also, if you find a good site not listed here, let me know. Contact me at the email address at the bottom of this page.
There is also a page of links to many other sites about ancient coins, including Greek, Byzantine, etc.
General sites: Sites you can search for coins of particular emperors and find out about prices, but the sites are not designed to be educational--other than about prices:
Wildwinds.com [one very popular site attempting to show one of each type for each emperor, often with sale prices.}
Large sale sites can be useful for identifying coins.
vcoins.com [Coins currently for sale at fixed prices]
MA-Shops [Coins currently for sale at fixed prices]
CNG [Click on "Research" to find coins they have sold]
sixbid archive [An archive of very many auctions they have held for many different firms]
Online coins of the Roman empire. An academic site.
"Roman Imperial Coins - Free online resource for collectors": http://www.ancientcoins.ca/RIC/index.htm has pages for each emperor, organized by RIC number.
"Wikimedia Commons" ( https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Roman_coins_by_emperor ) has photographs of coins of the emperors, without any commentary, and not identified or organized [These pages have images, but are not assembled with love and thus do not have the appeal of collectors' pages.] e.g. Coins of Augustus , Coins of Tiberius , Coins of Caligula , Coins of Claudius , Coins of Nero , Coins of Galba , Coins of Otho, Coins of Vitellius , Gallienus, and many others.
Particular sites: These links are to sites created by individuals who love ancient coins and want to teach you something about a particular emperor, or at least show you their collection.
First Century
A few deification coins for Augustus.
Photos (only) of sestertii of the emperor Nero. [Not a single collection. Just photos of excellent coins, not even identified.]
A collection of denarii of Otho. [An extensive collection from a man who studied (not just collected) denarii of Otho. Some have comments.]
Domitian (81-96 AD) [Very high grade coins with numerous rare pieces, each with a few lines of commentary.]
A collection of denarii of Domitian. [Pictures with coins identified, but almost no commentary]
The Flavians (Vespasian, Titus, and Domitian) [An article with quite a bit of information in addition to coin photographs.]
David Atherton's collection of Flavian silver coins [Each coin is well-illustated with a lot of commentary about its interest.]
Second Century
Trajan (AD 98-117) sestertii (amazingly complete, with denarii and other denominations too) [Includes a brief biography, a discussion of his portraits, and commentary on many interesting types.]
Trajan's coins relating to his conquest of Dacia and other historical events. [A page on this site.]
A collection of coins of Hadrian. [Several pages, with commentary.]
Hadrian (on Beast's site) [Different bust styles considered and then many coins identifed, some with commentary.]
The "travel series" of Hadrian [An comprehensive site with all types illustrated, often with numerous examples from auctions with their prices realized given.]
Another page on the travel series of Hadrian.
A collection of Commodus (with very extensive commentary). Also, his Roman provincial coins.
Third Century
Barry Murphy's collection [now sold off] of Septimus Severus and his family (Caracalla, Julia Domna, Geta, and Plautilla). High-quality coins well-organized by mint, but not a lot of commentary.
Doug Smith has a lot on Septimius Severus (AD 193-211) and his wife Julia Domna among his many pages. Click his links (not just the one page I linked to). [Extensive and entertaining commentary.]
A small site on portraits of Geta, son of Septimius Severus [His portrait styles considered with extensive commentary, but only four coins.]
Coins of Geta and Caracalla [Coins from each year with some commentary.]
A site on Elagabalus (AD 218-222) [Numerous coins with commentary and links.]
Another site on Elagabalus (AD 218-222) [Very many images identified inlcuding many Roman provincial coins of Elagabalus.]
A Numis Forums thread on Orbiana (wife of Severus Alexander): https://www.numisforums.com/topic/7717-an-overview-of-the-coinage-for-orbiana/
Maximinus Thrax, the Giant (AD 235-238) [His three different portraits and all the types, with commentary. Part of this site.]
Gordian III (AD 238-244) The collection of Michael Mihalka. It is through for types of denarii and also has around 385 coins from over 90 provincial cities.
Gordian III (AD 238-244) An extensive colletion with commentary and a biography page. Organized by issue which helps with dating.
Antoninani of Philip and his family from the Antioch mint, by Marchal Thibaut.
Doug Smith has a terrific overview of the coins of Philip and his family.
The "DIVI series" of previous emperors honored by Trajan Decius.
Trajan Decius, Trebonianus Gallus (251-253) and their families and coins of Aemilian (253) ["Four Bad Years, 249-253". Many pages.]
Gallienus, including the legionary series
Gallienus (AD 253-268) [A large identified collection.]
"zoo" coins of Gallienus [Historical background and numbers of each type in Cunetio (a large hoard), but not illustrated]
A French site about the zoo coins of Gallienus.
The Liber Pater coins of Gallienus' zoo
A pdf of a large collection of Gallienus ants at Academia.edu
The zoo coins of Gallienus discussed in a Numis Forums thread.
Coins of Gallienus and family.
Six massive pdfs of coins of the Gallic Empire. A thesis in preparation for the revision of RIC.
Coins of the Gallic empire. (A French site.)
Coins of the Gallic empire (Gallic-empire.com on the wayback machine. The original site seems to have disappeared.)
Coins of the Gallic empire (A French site)
Here is an on-line update to RIC from 268-276, the main academic complete database on coins of Claudius II, Quintillus, Aurelian, Tacitus, and Florian (268-276)
Tom Ross has a site on Aurelian. (AD 270-275) [An extensive collection, arranged by mint.]
Another site on Aurelian (270-275) [Coins and biography, including sections on: The rise to power; The Moneyer's Revolt; The Coinage Reform and finally The Eastern Coinage.]
Coins of Probus (AD 276-282) [A very extensive site. Don't miss the page on bust types.]
Probus coins (French site)
Probus bust types from Siscia (by Mike Vosper). More about the Siscia mint.
A huge collection of Probus by barnaba6.
Coins of Probus with coded mintmarks [An article by Chip Scoppa with lots of explanation.]
Carus, Carinus, and Numerian. Their Chronology (282-285) (a page on this site)
Carus, Carinus, and Numerian (282-285) [An extensive site with lots of commentary, originally in Dutch, but google can translate it for you and Chrome translates it automatically.]
A collection of Carausius in CNG e-auction 204.
Coins of Diocletian and co-rulers. (A large collection of pages on this site.)
Fourth Century
The Ostia mint under Maxentius.
Another site on coins of London (296-325) [Lots of commentary on chronology and legends, but not much emphasis on photographs.]
Coins of Constantine the Great (306-337) by Victor Clark. [An extensive site. Lots of commentary and photos. There are many pages to explore.]
Glenn Simonelli's collection of AE coins of Constantine the Great [A hundred AE coins.]
The story of how Constantine and Maximinus II got the title FIL AVG seen on coins. [An article, not just photographs.]
The story of Crispus, illustrated with coins.
AE types of Constantius II.
AE types of Constans.
FEL TEMP REPARATIO coins of Constans, Constantius II, Gallus, Magnentius, and Decentius.
A site on FEL TEMP REPARATIO coins
Coins of emperor Vetranio (350) [All six copper types listed and illustrated. A page on this site.]
Coins of the emperor Julian II, the Apostate [All four copper types listed and illustrated. A page on this site.]
Coins of emperor Jovian (363-364) [All four copper types listed and illustrated. A page on this site.]
All AE types on coins of Valentinian through Theodosius II (364-450) [A very large site with many pages, including type sets for emperors.]
Emperors on coins (without much text)
"Roman Numismatic Gallery" lots of nice images.
De Imperatoribus Romanis is an on-line encyclopedia of the Roman emperors.
If you find a broken link, let me know. Also, if you find a good site not listed here, let me know.
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