Published:
July 30, 2021 at 7:27 am
It is impossible today to imagine a world without what are known as Hindu-Arabic numerals. These nine symbols or digits (1 to 9) and zero (0) – crucially, together with the system of arranging them in place value – are at the very heart of so much of modern life. Without them there would be no computers and no space travel. Indeed, there would be precious little science, technology or medicine of any kind, to say nothing of mathematics itself.
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If mathematics is the universal language of science, then Hindu-Arabic numerals and place-value notation are what make that language fluent and indispensable. Each of us uses numbers all of the time, without even thinking about where they came from or what we would do without them. So it may come as a revelation to discover that these numerals were relatively unknown in Europe until the 12th century, and then not widely adopted until well into the 15th century.
I enjoy coins for their artistry and for the history behind them. Because there are so many coins with an interesting history behind them, and because there are so many coins that demonstrate great artistry, I can think of far more than just Ten Coins I’d Love to Own. I narrowed my list down to those I would MOST love to have, and that I am MOST likely to be able to obtain, someday, without having to sell more than one or two vital organs. Here is my list, in reverse chronological order.
Eighth Stavraton of Constantine XI
There are only 92 coins known from the reign of
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The Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II
As I watched the progress of Pope Francis in Iraq last month and his wonderful rapport with the Muslim leaders of that country, I could not but help see a parallel between his peace-making efforts and the peace brokered between the crusader Emperor Frederick II and the sultan of Egypt, Al Kamil, recounted in Ernst Kantorovicz’s recently republished biography of Frederick Hohenstaufen.
It’s ironic that Frederick can now be seen in parallel with a modern pope. At the time, even though he had won back Jerusalem for Christians for a ten-year period – and was duly crowned its king – he had been excommunicated by the reigning Pope.