HEllo all. first let me tell you that i have searched the web abd this site but have not found what i'm looking for. i might have missed it but that is why i need your help. I'm looking for a web site or a list or something like that that can help me translete the reverse latin inscriptions on old roman coins (like: GLORIA EXERCITVS, SARAMATIA DEVICTA, etc.) Some i mange to translate but i'm looking for a place that concetrare knowladge about this latin inscription. And as allways i thank you all in advance. 9
GLORIA EXERCITVS = "(to) the glory of the army". SARMATIA DEVICTA = "Sarmatia vanquished". You will find a lot of useful resources here.
Specifically, this page here contains translations of reverse inscriptions: http://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Roman Coin Inscriptions - although it is weak on late Roman bronze (LRB) inscriptions. For example, it doesn't include GLORIA EXERCITVS, which is one of the most common LRB inscriptions.
I have a page with reverse legend translations for Constantine I, mainly from Failmezger's book Roman Bronze Coins: From Paganism to Christianity 294-364 A.D. http://www.constantinethegreatcoins.com/vocab/ I need to update with legends for other Emperors, but at the time I made the page my focus was very narrow...I also need to change the font...so much papyrus.
Hi Yossi. Having trouble with Latin Translations, online ? Think I've got an answer, it works for me, and no reason why it shouldn't work for you too. Get Google, type the Latin words, nothing else, and Hocus Pocus, Victory Standing !, plus the war involved or whatever else. Sometimes the Best Answer is the Simple one. Happy ?
It's true. Amazing how much stuff you can type right into Google and get what you want almost immediately. For example, US postal tracking numbers. Paste the number right into Google and search, and you will usually be directed straight to the tracking without even having to go to the USPS site first. Or currency exchange. I wanted to convert Swiss francs to US dollars last night, so I just put "65 CHF" into Google and it gave me the USD equivalent immediately, without my even having to look up a currency exchange calculator. I have often identified unknown coins and medals by entering their legends directly into Google.
Many Roman coin inscriptions are abbreviated and that won't work in many cases. "Translate P P" won't yield "father of the country" (pater patriae). This approach will not work for IMP CAES NER TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG GERM DAC PARTHICO P M TR POT XX COS VI P P, which is short for IMP[ERATORI] CAES[ARO] NER[VAE] TRAIANO OPTIMO AVG[VSTO] GERM[ANICO] DAC[ICO] PARTHICO P[ONTIFICI] M[AXIMO] TR[IBVNICIO] POT[ESTATE] XX CO[N]S[VLI] VI P[ATRI] P[ATRIAE]. This is translated, "To the Emperor Caesar Nerva Trajan, the best, revered defeater of the Germans, defeater of the Dacians, defeater of the Parthians, highest priest, with tribunician power for the twentieth time, consul for the sixth time, father of the country."
Yes, it can be problematic with Roman coins, since there is so much variation, but I have found that direct Google entry of Latin legends- even abbreviated ones- for later (post-Renaissance) coins and medals can be an effective way of finding similar if not identical pieces. This is often enough to steer one in the right direction, at least.
Translation of Latin, including Roman Coins. I try to be a "smart" researcher. If one method doesn't work, try something else. It helps to have more than one string on your bow. It is best to, virtually never, have the word "Impossible" in one's vocabulary !!!
For Roman Imperial obverse inscriptions, I recommend a book <shudder> Klawans, Reading and Dating Roman Imperial Coins. It was one of the first books I bought when I began collecting. It's very instructive.
Why are you shuddering at Zander Klawans? Is there some other ancient coin collector subtext there that I'm not privy to? (If so, it won't be the first nor last time, since I so often feel "behind the curve" and intellectually outclassed in the present company...)
Also have had good luck with Google translate on some of the more obscure latin words, though most of the time I just use my education (4 years of latin in high school) and my old dictionaries.
I think that he is joking, because everyone is talking about the internet; but he is also making a point. Remember the old saying "buy the book before the coin."
Precisely correct, Victor! I would never shudder at Zander Klawans. He authored several excellent beginner books, and more.
