Four Zodiac Drachms of Antoninus Pius
Jupiter in Sagittarius

Triton XX, Lot: 478. Estimate $4000. Sold for $5500. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Drachm (33mm, 23.67 g, 11h). Zodiac series. Dated RY 8 (AD 144/5). AVT K T AIΛ A∆P ANTωNЄINOC CЄB ЄVC, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Jupiter in Sagittarius: Centaur galloping right, drawing bow and arrow, star above his head; above centaur, bust of Jupiter (Zeus) right with slight drapery; [L] H (date) below. Köln 1503; Dattari (Savio) 2973; K&G 35.263; Emmett 1693.8. Good VF, dark brown patina with touches of green. Rare. One of the finest known examples for the type.

From the H. Mitchell Collection, purchased from R. M. Smythe (David Vagi), 18 November 1999.

Alexandria saw an immense output of coinage during the eighth year of Antoninus Pius’s reign. The Zodiac drachms, mythological types, and a host of issues for the nomes appeared that year. One 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 early in the reign of Pius in AD 139, and apparently prompted a renewal in the ancient Egyptian religion, while the coin types also stressed the connections to the Greco-Roman Pantheon.