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Research Coins: Electronic Auction

 
172, Lot: 138. Estimate $150.
Sold for $185. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Drachm (32mm, 19.62 g). Zodiac type. Dated RY 8 (AD 144/5). Laureate head right / Radiate bust of Sol and star above lion bounding to right; date below. Köln 1495; Milne 1813; BMC 1084; Emmett 1530. Fine, brown patina with patches of green and red.


From The John A. Seeger Collection.

Alexandria saw an immense issue of coinage during the eighth year of Antoninus Pius. The Zodiac drachms, unique mythological types and a host of issues for the nomes appeared that year. One proffered explanation for this activity centers on the celebration of the renewal of the Great Sothic Cycle, the point when the star Sothis (Sirius) rises on the same point on the horizon as the sun. This cycle of 1461 years began again in AD 139, and apparently prompted a renewal in the ancient Egyptian religion, and its connections with the Greco-Roman Pantheon.