Republican and Imperatorial coins, before 27 BC
Before Rome became one of the biggest Empires in history, it was a Kingdom and then a Republic. In the 1st century BC it was ruled by a string of strongmen, culminating in Julius Caesar, Mark Anthony and Caesar's adopted son Octavian (Augustus), bloody civil wars and a transition of the Republic to an Empire by 27 BC. Coins (mostly copper and silver) were struck from 5th century on - these are extremely diverse (usually changing design every year or two), historically interesting and popular with the collectos.