As you might remember were camping on the North Shore of Lake Superior for Independence Day. As we weaved our way up and down the jagged coast on Highway 61 we stopped in lots of little gift shops along the way.
One such shop sold mostly agates and other semi precious stones but tucked away in a little display case in the back of the store I found row upon row of ancient Roman coins of all varieties and sizes. Some of these coins featured some gruesome gladiatorial scenes, lots of spears and swords slicing through people and animals. Those ancient Romans were a gruesome lot.
One of these coins caught my eye, in part, because it seemed like the least gruesome of the bunch. As I learned more about it I discovered it held quite a few secrets. The coin was a bronze Antoninianus from 254-268 AD featuring Salonina, the wife of Emperor Gallienus. As you can barely make out Venus is on the reverse side of the coin holding an apple and scepter with a cupid below, I was instantly intrigued so it was worth the thirty dollar price tag to me, even though I probably paid too much.
As it often does, my nerdy brain forced me to take a deep dive down the research rabbit hole and I was shocked at what I discovered. I couldn't ignore the similarities between the Roman era in which this antoninianus was minted and the current phase of our American empire.
During the time period of 254-268 AD the Roman Empire was descending into financial chaos. Although it would be a couple more centuries before Rome fully collapsed (476 AD), the cracks in the far reaching and seemingly invincible empire were beginning to undeniably appear.
You see, the Roman government needed to pay the legions of soldiers that kept the empire afloat and ever-expanding but they were beginning to realize they didn’t have enough precious metals to mint enough coins for all those paydays. Their answer? Use more bronze, less precious metals, and mint away to their hearts’ content. Although in the years to follow the empire would revive itself somewhat, the revival was short-lived, something akin to a dead cat bounce.
The following picture illustrates the declining precious metal content (and craftsmanship) of the Roman currency over four decades. This practice kept the wheels of the mighty empire turning but eventually led to serious hyperinflation.
This ancient Roman conundrum sounds very similar to the Federal Reserve’s current day addiction to excessive money printing. This link, for example will bring you to some very damning data about America’s current and future debt projections. If the US doesn't find a way to turn this around it will lead to very perilous places.
The secret this little coin carried across all those centuries felt like a very important message in a bottle and that message caused my imagination to kick into overdrive.
In my mind’s eye I envisioned some wise, ancient Roman walking across the cobblestones to the local baker clutching this coin in their hand and feeling overwhelmed as they are needing to work more hours to buy the same loaf of bread.
This person would have probably had the same festering anger that many of us share now when we go to the grocery store and are paying two to three times more for the same amount of food as we did just a few years ago.
That Roman citizen would have also been frustrated at their leadership's lack of understanding and/or concern about their day-to-day struggles. They probably even walked around with underlying feeling of dread in the pit of their stomach that something wasn’t quite right. Maybe they were even astute enough to realize the true depth of the trouble the empire was in and experienced a swell of sadness about the fate of their grandchildren's future.
History is eager to reveal to us that even the mighty aren’t immune to greed, corruption, and eventual collapse from within. Lessons unlearned are always repeated. History is there for us to learn from, it can be a kind of shortcut. If we can learn from other people’s mistakes we don’t have to suffer as much ourselves, it’s far less painful and destructive in the end. This is the main reason why I despise cancel culture so profoundly.
Although it's popular for people to draw parallels between Rome and America, these two empires have less in common than most people think. There’s still lots of valuable lessons to be gleaned from studying history.
As I write this blog I have an underlying feeling in the pit of my stomach that something isn’t quite right and worry about the fate of future generations of Americans. Even so, I haven't completely given up hope, miracles happen every day.
If we’re lucky we might have a few decades to turn things around and maybe it'll be a true American renaissance this time and not just a dead cat bounce. The answers to saving ourselves from a collapse within are already here but they're being ignored by our greedy and corrupted elected officials. We need only tune into the news for a constant reminder of that.
If America goes in the other direction, 1800 years from now some curious citizen of our Earth’s next mighty empire might be holding a time-worn American coin in their hands, having some of these very same thoughts as we are today. If so, let's hope they finally learn from our mistakes.
All for now. Trust your instincts, invest in you, live boldly, and take chances.
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...and I thought back in the days everything was "fine" as long as coins where still made from gold and silver. :) Very interesting!
Indeed it is all repeating until solved, but then it surprises me still how accurately the repetitions are!
I enjoyed the read:)
I sure hope it doesn't take 1800 years for humanity to learn the lessons that are being presented to us now. It's going to be interesting for sure. It already is interesting, akin to living in a Monte Python movie. Surreal!
I agree, the world is an absolute circus right now. Mainstream media seems to be losing their power and influence at least. It's hilarious to see them realizing they're becoming irrelevant and trying to alter their course to look more like the independent media on the surface. They're covering stories that they would've never touched a few years ago.
Nothing is immune to the ebb and flow of time. Empires come and Empires fall. From a 50,000 ft level, the US acts like all the other historical empires. Eventually, it will need to cede it's scepter to the next empire.
The good news is ... in most of the cases, nothing really changes for the common folks when the changeover occurs. The common life remains common.
Yes, the debt we're in will be a tough one to rectify without some kind of a reset! I was looking into life for the average Roman just after the fall and it was interesting. De-urbanization happened pretty quickly then came rapid breakdown in education and technology. Most people emptied out of the cities to the countryside and lived that way for centuries. That's probably exactly how it would play out here. Cities would be lawless/dangerous.
True, this still goes on. Our goverment have decided to reduce the size of our coin, thus the metal ratio, as its cost has been higher due to hyperinflation.
We're suffering from inflation here too. The price of most essentials is higher.
Unnerving story and as long as greed rules, we will all be damned.
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Yeah, this is a very difficult lesson for humanity to comprehend for some strange reason.
By ignoring the lessons of history, the fallacies will remain a human treadmill.
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I don't know about miracles... History teaches us that all empires inevitably fall. I don't see much difference between Nero playing the fiddle while Rome burned and Biden entertaining naked transgender at the White House while the economy is going down and the world is on the brink of nuclear war.
I still believe in miracles but it would take a pretty massive one to turn things around at this point. We would need to get some masterful leadership in these next few election cycles. A few more bad Presidents might seal our fate. I can't see nuclear war happening unless it's an accident. I hope I'm correct on that.
Feels like ur trying to blindfold urself with anything u can ,just not to see it...😕
I can assure you I'm not.
agree with you that history is a valuable tool for learning from the mistakes of others. It's clear that the Roman Empire made some serious missteps that ultimately led to its collapse, and we would be wise to avoid repeating those same mistakes.
I also share your concern about the future of America. The country is facing a number of serious challenges, including economic inequality, political gridlock, and climate change. If we don't find a way to address these challenges, it's possible that America could go the way of Rome.
The next decade will be very telling. We would almost need a complete reset of the economy to get us out of the mess we're in because the Fed won't be able to just print money to keep us afloat forever.
That's really awesome. What an amazing treasure you have there! We are on the south shore of Lake Superior right now and we are doing our best to find our own little treasures and make some memories.
It's so cool to hold in your hands. Nice! I hope you have a wonderful trip!
So cool to find that tucked away in a gift shop. That is what I love about collecting coins. They can send one down that research rabbit hole and learn so much from it. If you are a history lover, then it is something that you can't resist sometimes. I agree, there is so much the U.S. could learn from the failings and successes of the Roman and other empires. We just can't seem to do it though.
I collected coins as a child and loved the hobby. Whenever I'd get a few extra dollars I'd run off to the coin shop. What I learned about this particular coin was a little depressing, ironic because I tried to chose the least depressing design! Lol. I guess this Roman emperor, Gallenius, was even kidnapped by a Syrian king and held hostage.
I first started collecting in the 7th or 8th grade of school. I have been off and on ever since, but only as a hobbyist, never too seriously until recently. It sounds like you learned a great deal and it was rather interesting even if it was rather depressing. Sometimes history can be depressing and ugly. We shouldn't shy away from that or try to hide it away though as it is a part of us and how we learn.
I started around the same age and stopped right before I went to college. I transferred my addiction from coins to vintage watches in my mid-twenties. Lol. I love collecting, and have met some wonderful people along the way. In a way it's almost like time traveling.
Everything in the world repeats itself. Life leads us into a circle to give us a chance to change, to draw conclusions. The main thing is that we ourselves are ready for change. But alas.....
Events are definitely cyclical.
There is a reason why they say that history is a snake that bites its own tail and there are theories such as the Eternal Return! Certainly, at present the political systems of the world are extremely chaotic, there are incredible economic crises, territorial crises and so on, but I believe, for many reasons, that the citizens of the world are more "permissive". I do not know if this is good or bad, I only know that in Venezuela, for example, governments have fallen for less atrocities than those occurring now.
Anyway, you have a marvel in your hands and you made an illustrative, interesting and even "premonitory" post. hahaha. I remembered a quote from a historian who says that "If we don't know our history, we are destined to repeat our mistakes". An excellent week full of wonderful discoveries. Hugs, Eric
That is so true, Nancy. What I'm seeing here in America I'm seeing in the rest of the world as well, to greater or lessor degrees. Hopefully it's a nosedive that we can pull out of eventually. Yes, I've heard that quote!
Thank you and I hope you're having a great week!
I would like to say here that no matter the country or the people living in it, if the human being is not able to overcome his mistakes, then the progress can never be the way we are now seeing the conditions of the whole world. They are getting worse because of the high cost. Earlier people used to say that it doesn't matter, but now there are many things in the US that have become very expensive and the daily wage earners buy them. Can't, and how are there so many countries that are doing it in such a way that they are shrinking precious metals due the high price.
I feel like our leadership no longer reflects the will and intentions of the public they're supposed to serve (this has been the case for a long time). The average age of most of our politicians is just way too old. America needs new, young blood and fresh ideas in our government now more then ever.
Wow! This was some really deep history
I learnt alot from it and thank you for sharing
Thanks for reading!
Miracles is born to happen we just have to keep the believe that someday it will occur.
Fingers are crossed!
very interesting article,How are you friends today, Hopefully you are always in good health and well.Greetings from me to friends and family there.
It seems that the economy that is happening now is a repetition of the economy of the past. Your writing is very inspiring, Eric. have a nice day.
Thank you Eliana! I hope your week is going well!
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I think recently now, people are no more giving value to precious metals as it is before decades ago though
Your words never fail to inspire me, even when its quite informative history but history nonetheless. I enjoyed each line. Thanks for sharing this @ericvancewalton. It was a huge pleasure reading.🌺
So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks!
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