This fleshy fellow is Ptolemy III Euergetes (pharaoh of Egypt from 246-222) and the portrait on this massive coin (an octadrachm) sees him positively bristling with royal and divine attributes. The radiate crown evokes Helios, and the scaly aegis recalls Zeus, Athena and the divinized Alexander. The trident slung over his shoulder is a clear
Clocking in at 169 grams this coin is a whopper – one of the largest (if not the largest) denomination minted in antiquity. It was discovered in Bukhara (Uzbekistan), acquired by Napoleon III, and is one of a kind. The shrewd looking grump wearing the exciting helmet on the obverse is Eukratides I, a shadowy
There is a lot to love about the Greeks in Sicily: they were horse-crazy, temple-mad, fiercely competitive in all arenas, and produced some of my favorite tyrants and (not incidentally) my favorite coins. And this type is arguably the very finest of them all, showing the nereid (water nymph) Arethusa in delightful profile, surrounded by
Ever heard the phrase ‘Rich as Croesus’? It’s a bit out of fashion these days but refers to the last king (Kroisos latinised to Croesus) of the Lydian Empire and the fabulous wealth that he splashed all over Panhellenic sanctuaries. A large part of that wealth came from the Pactolus river running through the capital
Ptolemy I, Alexander the Great’s most canny general, famously diverted Alexander’s funeral cortège as it made its way from Babylon to Macedon, handily taking possession of his body in order to bolster his legitimacy as a Successor. So too did Ptolemy lay claim to Alexander’s image, brilliantly so on coin types struck in the first