VodCast
An occasional series of short videos on coins that shed light on various aspects of ancient history, presented by Professor Kevin Butcher.
Secrets of the Roman Mint
10:46, Fri 22 Jun 2018
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.
(MP4 format, 166 MB)
The Roman Mill at Barbegal
10:46, Fri 22 Jun 2018
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 a reconsideration of the place of hydraulic technology in the earlier Roman empire.
(MP4 format, 149 MB)
The Temples of Baalbek
10:46, Fri 22 Jun 2018
Can coins help us reconstruct the original appearance of the giant temples of Heliopolis (modern Baalbek) in Lebanon?
(MP4 format, 217 MB)
Nero and Agrippina
10:46, Fri 22 Jun 2018
Why does Agrippina seem to be given precedence over her son Nero on the earliest coins of his reign?
(MP4 format, 131 MB)
Dating the birth of Jesus
10:46, Fri 22 Jun 2018
Anno domini. Today we use the system devised by the sixth-century monk, Dionysius Exiguus, as a way of synchronising events, and associate its origin with the nativity of Jesus and the 'first Christmas'. But did Dionysius get his dates right? A coin issued by Herod Antipas suggests not ...
(MP4 format, 156 MB)
Nero plays the lyre
10:46, Fri 22 Jun 2018
Does this coin depict the emperor Nero as a musician, or does it show the god Apollo instead?
(MP4 format, 75 MB)
Render unto Caesar
10:46, Fri 22 Jun 2018
What was the tribute penny of the Bible?
(MP4 format, 105 MB)
Caligula and his Sisters
10:46, Fri 22 Jun 2018
A brass sestertius of Caligula provides contemporary proof of the high regard the emperor had for his three sisters.
(MP4 format, 100 MB)
Antony and Cleopatra
10:46, Fri 22 Jun 2018
What did Cleopatra look like? Her coins provide evidence.
(MP4 format, 112 MB)
the_fall_of_sejanus
10:46, Fri 22 Jun 2018
A coin minted at the Spanish city of Bilbilis in AD 31 records not only the success of Tiberius' henchman Sejanus but also his fall from grace. Professor Kevin Butcher explains how it does this.
(MP4 format, 29 MB)