RPC III, 5466

 

Image of specimen #1

 

Coin type
Volume III
Number 5466
Province Egypt
Region Egypt
City Alexandria
Reign Hadrian
Person (obv.) Hadrian (Augustus)
Issue L H = year 8
Dating AD 123/4
Obverse inscription ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ ΤΡΑΙ - ΑΔΡΙΑ ϹΕΒ
Edition Αὐτοκράτωρ Καῖσαρ Τραϊανὸς Ἁδριανὸς Σεβαστός Αὐτ(οκράτωρ) Καῖ(σαρ) Τραϊ(ανὸς) Ἁδρια(νὸς) Σεβ(αστός)
Translation Emperor Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus
Obverse design laureate head of Hadrian, right, drapery on left shoulder
Reverse inscription ΕΙϹ ΖΕΥϹ ϹΑΡΑΠΙϹ, L Η
Edition εἰς Ζεὺς Σάραπις ἔτους ηʹ εἰς Ζεὺς Σάραπις (ἔτους) ηʹ
Translation to Zeus Sarapis, of year 8
Reverse design Zeus-Sarapis, radiate, standing facing on column, head right, holding sceptre and uncertain object
Metal copper-based alloy
Average diameter 34 mm
Average weight 23.09 g
Axis 12
Specimens 1 (1 in the core collections)
Note G.M. Staffieri, ‘ƐΙϹ ΖƐΥϹ ϹΑΡΑΠΙϹ su una dramma alessandrina inedita’, NACQT 25 (1996), pp. 255-69: ‘Statua maschile ignuda (?) radiata, incedente verso destra e parzialmente rivestita dell’himation, che regge uno scettro con la destra … e tiene nella sinistra un’aquila o una testa di Sarapis sormantata dal kàlathos’. He cited parallels for the inscriptions, and linked the coin design to the so-called ‘Colonna di Diocleziano’ at the Serapeum in Alxandria. For the radiate crown, cf. the coins of ΗΛΙΟΣ ΣΑΡΑΠΙΣ under Domitian. Here we have a mixture of Helios (the radiate crown) with Zeus and Sarapis. See also 5467.

Specimens of this coin type

# Specimen Museum Bibliography
1 1     ✸ NY: 2018.7.1 CNG Triton XXI, 9 Jan. 2018, lot 57 (Staffieri coll.)