---
title: "Classics and coins"
short: "classics"
order: "02"
currently: ""
---
I majored in Philosophy and Classics, and the ancient world never let go.
These days it's Rome above all, from the Republic to Byzantium. In
college, when I called a Plotinus-loving friend Platonist scum, he called
me peripatetic swine. All in good fun.
This year I started collecting Roman coins: an Elagabalus first, then a
Vaballathus with Aurelian on the other side, because a Zenobia would be
absurd. (She was his mother, and her coins are priced accordingly.)
<sky-template path="main.html" />
<sky-block name="title">${frontmatter.title} · </sky-block>
<sky-block name="content">
<article class="orbit-page">
<a class="back" href="/orbits">← all orbits</a>
<h1>${frontmatter.title}</h1>
<p class="currently">${frontmatter.currently}</p>
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<sky-slot name="content" />
</div>
</article>
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// one and remembers it. This runs in <head>, so a saved choice applies
// before the page is drawn.
(() => {
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try {
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if (saved === "light" || saved === "dark") root.dataset.theme = saved;
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const isDark = () => (root.dataset.theme ? root.dataset.theme === "dark" : system.matches);
document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", () => {
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if (!button) return;
const show = () => button.setAttribute("aria-checked", String(isDark()));
button.hidden = false;
show();
system.addEventListener("change", show);
button.addEventListener("click", () => {
root.dataset.theme = isDark() ? "light" : "dark";
try {
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show();
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<nav class="nav">
<a class="brand" href="/">
<svg class="brand-mark" viewBox="0 0 1536 1174" aria-hidden="true"><use href="/ibis.svg#ibis" /></svg>
${meta.title}
</a>
<div class="nav-links">
<a href="/">home</a>
<a href="/about">about</a>
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<pre class="receipt" aria-label="How this page was built"><span class="prompt">$</span> skyblue --version
skyblue <a href="https://github.com/mas-4/skyblue">${sky.version}</a> (compiled by cprime <a href="https://github.com/mas-4/cprime">${sky.compiler}</a>)
<span class="prompt">$</span> skyblue -i src -o build
skyblue: ${sky.pages} pages and ${sky.files} files -> build
<span class="note"># ${sky.date}, ${sky.time}, ${sky.ms} ms. Two small scripts: the candle and the light switch.</span></pre>
<p class="copyright">© 2022–2026 Michael Sendker</p>
</footer>
// The candle. Hold the pointer over the words and a flame lights above
// them: the paper warms and thins, and the page's source shows through
// from underneath. Only over the letters themselves, not blank paper.
// Without this script the paper simply stays opaque.
(() => {
const sheet = document.querySelector(".sheet");
if (!sheet || !matchMedia("(hover: hover) and (pointer: fine)").matches) return;
// Is (x, y) on a letter? Find the text position under the point, then
// check that the point is inside the box of the character on either side.
const range = document.createRange();
const overGlyph = (x, y) => {
let node, offset;
if (document.caretPositionFromPoint) {
const pos = document.caretPositionFromPoint(x, y);
if (pos) [node, offset] = [pos.offsetNode, pos.offset];
} else if (document.caretRangeFromPoint) {
const r = document.caretRangeFromPoint(x, y);
if (r) [node, offset] = [r.startContainer, r.startOffset];
}
if (!node || node.nodeType !== Node.TEXT_NODE || !sheet.contains(node)) return false;
for (const i of [offset - 1, offset]) {
if (i < 0 || i >= node.length || /\s/.test(node.data[i])) continue;
range.setStart(node, i);
range.setEnd(node, i + 1);
for (const box of range.getClientRects())
if (x >= box.left && x <= box.right && y >= box.top && y <= box.bottom) return true;
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return false;
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let x = 0, y = 0, queued = false, dousing = 0;
const draw = () => {
queued = false;
const box = sheet.getBoundingClientRect();
sheet.style.setProperty("--cx", x - box.left + "px");
sheet.style.setProperty("--cy", y - box.top + "px");
if (overGlyph(x, y)) {
clearTimeout(dousing);
dousing = 0;
sheet.classList.add("lit");
} else if (!dousing && sheet.classList.contains("lit")) {
// A moment's grace, so it doesn't strobe across the spaces between words
dousing = setTimeout(() => {
sheet.classList.remove("lit");
dousing = 0;
}, 350);
}
};
sheet.addEventListener("pointermove", (e) => {
[x, y] = [e.clientX, e.clientY];
if (!queued) {
queued = true;
requestAnimationFrame(draw);
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sheet.addEventListener("pointerleave", () => {
clearTimeout(dousing);
dousing = 0;
sheet.classList.remove("lit");
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<section class="source">
<header class="source-head">
<a href="https://github.com/mas-4/standingwater-flat/blob/main/src/${source.path}">${source.path}</a>
<span>${source.lines} lines</span>
</header>
<pre class="listing"><code>${source.code}</code></pre>
</section>
<pre class="listing"><code>${source.code}</code></pre>
I majored in Philosophy and Classics, and the ancient world never let go. These days it's Rome above all, from the Republic to Byzantium. In college, when I called a Plotinus-loving friend Platonist scum, he called me peripatetic swine. All in good fun.
This year I started collecting Roman coins: an Elagabalus first, then a Vaballathus with Aurelian on the other side, because a Zenobia would be absurd. (She was his mother, and her coins are priced accordingly.)