Ancient Web: Coins of Malta Put Ancient Melita on a Collector’s Spreadsheet

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.

An ancient bronze coin can be smaller than a modern shirt button and still contain a city's religious imagery, economic history, and a mystery about its maker.

Browse the Coins of Melita and Gaulos catalog.

The page documents coins attributed to Roman-era Malta and Gozo, roughly 211 BC to AD 35. Its owner arranges specimens in a densely packed table with photographs, denomination, approximate date, catalog cross-references, weight, and diameter. Visitors are invited to hover over the coin images for enlargement, an old-fashioned visual catalog convention.

The table distinguishes unciae, sextantes, semisses, quadrantes, and other denominations. Some examples weigh around three grams; others are much larger. The measurements matter because coins that look similar in a small web photograph may have very different identities when considered alongside their mass and dimensions.

Punic letters and unexpected gods

The descriptions often identify a head on the obverse and a religious or symbolic image on the reverse. Apollo appears beside ears of corn. Other coins feature figures tentatively identified as Hercules, Eshmun, or Baal Hammon; one group places a mummy-like Osiris between Isis and Nephthys. Some inscriptions are represented with small image glyphs rather than readily searchable text.

The catalog also notes instances of counterstamping and revaluation. A group of older semisses is described as having been marked for use as larger denominations around 89 BC. Individual specimens appear with weights and different reference numbers, leaving room for study rather than collapsing everything into a single representative photograph.

Names such as Seltman, Calciati, Coleiro, and Azzopardi appear as bibliography-style catalog columns. They demonstrate how collectors compare private holdings with established reference systems.

The site gives dates for the ancient coins, not a clearly verified year when this particular Web catalog was first published. It therefore belongs here as a specialist preservation exception, not as a confirmed 1990s homepage. The historical attributions and identifications are those of the collector and cited catalogs; difficult examples require examination by numismatic specialists.

The charm is how direct the evidence remains. No algorithm decides which object appears next. The collector simply lays out a row of specimens and invites the reader to look closely.

Examine the measurements and photos in the Roman Malta catalog.

Part of the Ancient Web Collection.