Laurel Brown

@docbrown

Currently a lawyer. Formerly a TV/entertainment reporter, historian, professional student, teacher, astrophysicist. Ask me about my next career move! Aka, docbrown_tv and really_mzungu.

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Ist das dein Profil?Übernimm es — dann gehört dir docbrown.dirty.social.Profil übernehmen

Laurel Brown@docbrown· Jul 14

But… does it matter? The ring is awesome. And shall inspire hardcore nerding out henceforth if anyone is unfortunate enough to say “Hey, cool ring” in my presence. So thanks @peculiarityshop.bsky.social and thanks for reading my epic tale. (fin)

One last shot of the ring, which really is great.

Laurel Brown@docbrown· Jul 14

Maybe? The genuine coins are worth between $70-$2000, depending on quality. So it’s not insane that a jeweler could have popped a little drachma into a ring. (18/21)

Definitely repeating my photo of the ring with an image of an Istrian coin. But it’s all appropriate here, so we’ll just go with it.

Laurel Brown@docbrown· Jul 14

That flip, per the theory, was interpreted as Apollo (the god of the Sun) facing up and facing down. If you’re being artsy, you could make that into 2 faces, one up, one down. (16/21)

Hopefully this is not the same image of an Istrian drachma that I posted before. But it might be. Sorry.

Laurel Brown@docbrown· Jul 14

So, about those eclipses. Turns out that there was an annular eclipse visible in/near Istros back in 434 BCE. Then another in 431 BCE. And 2 eclipses in 3 years = 1 VERY BIG DEAL. (14/21) See www.cultureandcosmos.org/pdfs/8/Vol_8...

Annular eclipses are like total eclipses except that the Moon is slightly further away than usual and thus doesn’t perfectly cover the Sun, even at totality. The diagram is from the article cited in the main post.

Laurel Brown@docbrown· Jul 14

So then, why two Apollos? Scholarly types have debunked a lot of boring theories about trade and rivers and whatnot. But the cool theory? Solar eclipses! (10/21)

The sun, appearing as a crescent, rises out of the ocean during a solar eclipse. This would be neat to see.

Laurel Brown@docbrown· Jul 14

The numismatists (sorry, love the word) have theorized the coins depict either 2 images of Apollo or else the Gemini twins. But probably not the twins, since they wear funky egg-cup caps. (9/21)

The Gemini twins, Castor and Pollux, as seen on an old coin, wearing semi-pointy hats that are, apparently, required in this iconography. I guess? I really don’t know art history.

Laurel Brown@docbrown· Jul 14

But what is up with the two heads? Why is one flipped over? These are apparently important questions in numismatic design circles. (8/21)

Another example of an Istrian drachma, showing the double heads.

Laurel Brown@docbrown· Jul 14

Turns out, per the interwebs… Nope. Not Roman. Not Janus. So, what then? Per the ‘net’s numismatists, the coin hails from the Ancient Greek colony of Istros (in modern Romania) on the Black Sea, and was minted between 450 and 300 BCE. (5/21)

Numismatics is the study of, and the hobby of collecting, coins. It’s up there with philately when it comes to cool hobby names.

Laurel Brown@docbrown· Jul 14

I mean, the ring had two weird little heads and might’ve been related to the Janus myth. Which is one of the cooler metaphorical ancient god things (it was in Buffy!). Also, I like shiny things. (3/21)