Roman currency

Philippians chapter 2, verses 1 through 11.

If you've been to Rome, you know that the city is full, still, of impressive ruins from the days of the Empire, when most of the known world was under the thumb of the Caesars and the Roman Legion.

If you walk through the Roman Forum today, you will see the Arch of Titus, built by Titus's brother, Domitian, to commemorate both Titus's deification and victory in Jerusalem in the year 71 AD.

Among the most visible details on the arch is the giant menorah being carried away from the temple.

The arch then is what was called by the Romans a trophy, that is a victory monument.

Well, that's how Paul saw the cross.

And that's how we are to see the cross.

I spoke here last week about the background of Philippi, especially the fact that it was the site of a climactic battle between the armies of Mark Anthony and Octavian, the future Augustus, and the armies of Cassius and Brutus, the assassins of Julius Caesar.

It was a chaotic, organic human network.

And to add another layer of complexity to the Katsurin Castle site, right alongside those 4th century Roman coins, the archaeologists found another coin, an Ottoman coin.

And this Ottoman coin is stamped with a date matching 1687.

which is centuries after Katsurin Castle was supposed to have been largely abandoned.