Alexander "the Great". Amazingly  people do not care about miseries from distant past, ideolizing warmongers like him or Napoleon. He conquered  from Macedonia all the way to Ganges on drunken,homoerotic ego trip and established the war betwwen the Western Civilization and Asia, a conflict that rages to this day.

Augustus, former Octavian, first Caesar, he did all what had to be done to stay a Ceasar for four decades.

Drusus son of Tiberius, the old man outlived him. Coins are mostly ugly pieces of metal and field rocks are even more ancient than them. It somehow makes sense to  own few good portraits , when those on coins are the only available of  a figure well imbebeded in cultural literacy of an average person, but then again collecting things is a folly of men past their prime or children. Also if a coin, supposedly two thousand years old look too good it's either fake or holds price tag insulting downtrotten of this Earth.

Gaius "Caligula". Royal blood was his curse, debauchery his way of life, the lif e  from the craddle overshadowed by a threat of violent death.

Do you like Nero?

I've heard people badmouthing him in Ohio!

Only thing that can be said for sure about Gondophares, ruler of somewhere in today's Iran and Afghanistan, sometime in mid first century , is that he had a beard. Then who knows if one day he didn't wake up with a resolve to shave?

Julia Domna, wife of Septimius Severus. High position wouldn't shield her from tragedies, because her own family was their source. At fifty she invented resonable cure for a breast cancer. She starved herself to death.

Mother and son. Julia Domna and Antoninus "Caracalla". The story goes she witnessed murdering her other son Geta by Caracall and his henchmen, then the story goes he was killed by his servant while defecating somewhere in the East far from home.

Ad nauseam history of Rome's  third century repeats itself with assainations of Emperors by praetorians or other conspirators. Each story carries a bit of twist however. In case of Antonianus "Elagabalus" it was throwing his dismembered body to Tybre. He himself outdid  many procedesors with at least something that gave rise to a gossip that he was hooking on the streets of capitol dressed as a woman.

This is Saint Constanine himself, also called "the Great".His masterstroke was to jump on the bandwagon of Christianity in it's already far gone  detached from the Gospel form. Neither killing his coceasars, his father in law, his wife ,his son in law and his son prevented his cannonization in  Orodox Church.

Another "the Great", Theodosius, mostly remembered bfor a wholesale massacre of his own citizens in Thessalonika, because there was something about them he did not like. It need s to be noted that he often regreted the deed.

Claudius. It is funny how "historians", prove or deny  the image steaming from popular book and serial, where Claudius is a stuttering, lame physically but overall good natured ruler between Caligula and Nero.

Mr.Vespasian victorious crusher of Judean revolt.He kept cruelties up to contemporary acceptable norm. His sons supposedly took a notch up of extremes of his polarized personality, which were meeknes (Titus) and taste for blood (Domitian), respectively.

Rabbel and Shaquilat, royal couple of  Nabbatean Kingdom(soon to be devoured by United States of Rome).

Yet another portrait of rulers in Petra. Wading through internet landfill curiously name Spielberg keeps popping up paired with Petra. Wouldn't you know that he used wonderous, chiseled in rock desert sity in today's Jordan as a backdrop of his atrocious flicks. This outrage should be enough to start charitable organizations to provide the Spielberg with whatever he needs to continue his life of opulence under one condition - no more movies. He already narrowed  further, demented mainstreeam of the pop culture, but his undeniable contribution to humanity shoud be halted.

Antonianus who somehow earned name Pius. Mystery man. Or maybe there's no secret that to run  Rome for twenty years one had to be a bastard?

Marcus Aurelius. Good guys do not end up on the faces of the coins but he tried hard to be just. He left adorable book of his thoughts but murderous machinery of Roman Empire wouldn't change a bit through long duration of his reign. More, his death opened confusing period, and actually decline of the Empire. His son Commodus added only to gallery of monsters that ever wore the purple. 

Commodus. Either few writers from proximity of his time were heavily biased, or a real sweetheart he was.

Persian affair did not go well for Valerianus.He was taken captive and served Persian monarch as a stool to get on a horse. After death his stuffed corpse served the same purpose.

In the fourth century portraits on he coins became more formalized.Gone were times of revealing liknesses of imbreeding Ptolmies or malignant Julio Claudians. Yet in this case, Maximminus Daza, looking at face above and reading ever opinionated historians, I tend to believe he was an asshole as described.

Crispus son of Constantine, killed on order of his father.

Constatntine I nearing the conclusion of his glorious existence must have been foolhearted and teary,  believing that his own sons would be improvements of his  power hunger's ruthless ways. He divided an empire for administrative territories and was so kind to even the distant relatives. After his death his three sons consolidated the power in their hands by means of masscaring beneficiaries of their father generosity. Constantius the II from the above likeness, was not to invoke this crafty smile for long - three years later he was dead in the course of territorial dispute with his brother Constans.

Julian the Apostate or the last breath of pagan Rome.

Maurice Tiberius- Byzantine Monarch.

How Turkey can be admitted to the European Union? Isn't it on the back of mind af any Westerner that Constantinopole should be what it used o be?