PTOLEMAIC EGYPT. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285/4-246 BC), with Arsinöe II, Ptolemy I, and Berenice I. AV mnaieion or octodrachm

Description

PTOLEMAIC EGYPT. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285/4-246 BC), with Arsinöe II, Ptolemy I, and Berenice I. AV mnaieion or octodrachm (27mm, 27.65 gm, 1h). NGC Choice Fine 5/5 – 3/5, edge marks. Alexandria, ca. 270-261 BC. AΔEΛΦΩN, conjoined diademed busts of Ptolemy II and Arsinöe II right, Ptolemy draped, Arsinöe veiled; Galatian shield behind / ΘEΩN, conjoined diademed busts of Ptolemy I and Berenice I right, Ptolemy draped, Berenice veiled. Svoronos 603. SNG Copenhagen 132. An artistic type with dimension.

Ex Classical Numismatic Group, Triton XIII (5 January 2010), lot 1353.

These pieces were first struck under Ptolemy II (282-246 BC), a brilliant ruler who built the famous Library of Alexandria and towering Pharos lighthouse. In 279 BC he married his sister, the beautiful and ambitious Arsinöe, in the manner of the old Egyptian pharaohs. To mark the occasion, he introduced the largest gold denomination yet seen in the Greek world, the mnaieion, so called because it was worth one mina (100 drachms) of silver, an enormous sum in ancient times. The typology of this dynastic gold issue celebrates the divine status of the deceased Ptolemy I and his wife, Berenice I, and by allusion, the divine status of the living sibling gods, Ptolemy II and his sister-wife Arsinöe II, as well.