| Classical Numismatic Group > Triton XXVII | Auction date: 9 January 2024 |
| Lot number: 384 Price realized: 2,750 USD (Approx. 2,519 EUR) Note: Prices do not include buyer's fees. | Show similar lots on CoinArchives Find similar lots in upcoming auctions on  |
| Lot description: PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Ptolemy IV Philopator. 222-205/4 BC. AR Tetradrachm (26.5mm, 14.09 g, 11h). Alexandreia mint. Struck circa 219-217 BC. Jugate draped busts right of Serapis and Isis / BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΠTOΛEMAIOY, eagle standing left, head right, on thunderbolt; filleted double cornucopia over shoulder, ΔI between legs. CPE 892; Svoronos 1123–4; Landvatter Group 4, 51 (O12/R41); SNG Copenhagen 197-8; Noeske 139; Boston MFA 2284; SNG Berry 1488; Dewing 2760. Traces of die rust on obverse, hairline in field on reverse. Good VF. This type is thought to have been issued in celebration of the Ptolemaic victory over the Seleukids at the battle of Raphia during the Fourth Syrian War. Official propaganda proclaimed that these two deities, Serapis and Isis, had intervened on behalf of the Egyptians, saving them from defeat (see C. Lorber, "The Ptolemaic Era Coinage Revisited," NC 2007, p. 116, and L. Bricault, "Serapis et Isis, Sauveurs de Ptolémé IV à Raphia," Chronique d'Égypte LXXIV (1999), pp. 334-43). Thomas Landvatter, in his die study cited above that appeared in the 2012 ANS American Journal of Numismatics (Second Series, Vol. 24, p. 88), suggests that this issue was "carrying a very specific ideological message directed more widely throughout the empire: Ptolemy IV was equating himself and his wife Arsinoe with the divine sibling-spouses Serapis and Isis." Landvatter also notes that "[t]his was an ideological statement made during wartime, meant to have wide appeal and explicitly associate the Ptolemaic king and queen with two of the most popular deities in the Eastern Mediterranean." Indeed, the popularity of the Serapis/Isis cult would outlive the Ptolemaic dynasty and continue well into the Roman Imperial period, only to be eventually usurped by the Christian and Muslim faiths. Estimate: 2000 USD |  |
