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
Nominative Imperator Caesar Traianus Hadrianus Augustus
Obverse design laureate head of Hadrian, right, drapery on left shoulder
Reverse inscription ΕΙϹ ΖΕΥϹ ϹΑΡΑΠΙϹ, L Η
Reverse design Zeus-Sarapis, radiate, standing facing on column, head right, holding sceptre and uncertain object
Metal copper-based alloy
Average diameter 34 mm
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

Number Number Museum Bibliography
1 1     ✸ NY: 2018.7.1 formerly Staffieri = CNG Triton XXI, 9 Jan. 2018, lot 57