EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Drachm (34mm, 22.15 g, 12h). Zodiac series. Dated RY 8 (AD 144/145).

CNG Feature Auction 115
Lot: 495. Estimated: $ 1 500

Roman Provincial, Bronze

Sold For $ 1 400. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

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EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Drachm (34mm, 22.15 g, 12h). Zodiac series. Dated RY 8 (AD 144/145). Laureate head right / Jupiter in Pisces – Bust right of Zeus (Jupiter), wearing taenia and draped on left shoulder, transverse scepter across right shoulder; star of eight rays before; fish right and fish left below; L H (date) across field. Köln –; Dattari (Savio) 2981; K&G 35.260; RPC IV.4 Online 13555/33 (this coin cited and illustrated); Emmett 1692.8. Green patina with traces of red, light roughness. Near VF. Rare, one of the better types in the Alexandrian Zodiac series.

From the Stein A. Evensen Collection. Ex Boston Museum of Fine Arts Collection (Gemini VI, 10 January 2010), lot 827; gift of Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius C. Vermeule, 1985.

The Great Sothic Cycle was a calendrical cycle based on the heliacal rising in July of the star Sirius (known to the Greeks as Sothis) and lasting approximately 1460 years. According to ancient Egyptian mythology, in a Golden Age, the beginning of the flooding of the Nile coincided exactly with the rising of Sirius, which was reckoned as the New Year. Only once every 1460 years did Sirius rise at exactly the same time. Thus, the coincidence of this along with the concurrent beginning of the flooding of the Nile gave the event major cosmological significance by heralding not just the beginning of a new year, but the beginning of a new eon. This event also was thought to herald the appearance of the phoenix, a mythological bird which was reborn every 500 to 1000 years out of its own ashes. According to one version of the myth, each new phoenix embalmed its old ashes in an egg of myrrh, which it then deposited in the Egyptian city of Heliopolis. So important was the advent of the new Great Sothic Cycle, both to the realignment of the heavens and its signaling of the annual flooding of the Nile, that the Egyptians celebrated it in a five-day festival, which emphasized the important cosmological significance.

In the third year of the reign of Antoninus Pius (AD 139/40), a new Great Sothic Cycle began. To mark this event, the mint of Alexandria struck an extensive series of coinage, especially in large bronze drachms, each related in some astrological way to the reordering of the heavens during the advent of the new Great Sothic Cycle. This celebration would continue throughout Pius’ reign, with an immense output of coinage during the eighth year of his reign in Egypt, which included this coin type, part of the Zodiac series.

The final winners of all CNG Feature Auction 115 lots will be determined during the live online sale that will be held on 16-17 September 2020. This lot is in Session 2, which begins 16 September 2020 at 2 PM ET.

Winning bids are subject to a 20% buyer's fee for bids placed on this website and 22.50% for all others.

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