Exceptional Zodiac Drachm
Helios in Leo
EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Drachm (33mm, 21.82 g, 12h). Zodiac series. Dated RY 8 (AD 144/5). AVT K T AIΛ AΔP ANTωNINOC CЄB ЄVC, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Helios in Leo: lion springing right; above, star and radiate and draped bust of Helios right; L H (date) below. Köln 1497; Dattari (Savio) 2967; K&G 35.279. Good VF, attractive dark brown patina. Excellent surfaces.
Alexandria saw an immense output of coinage during the eighth year of Antoninus Pius. 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 again in AD 139, and apparently prompted a renewal in the ancient Egyptian religion and its connections within the Greco-Roman Pantheon.
Yet the Zodiac drachms were not the only exceptional issues struck in Egypt at this time. The popular series of the Labors of Hercules, beginning in Pius’ year four, is a marked departure from the normally staid nature of Romano-Egyptian coinage. Perhaps even more dramatic are the handful of mythological types: the Judgement of Paris, appearing in years five and seven, and Lykurgos cutting the vines in year eight. Milne (p. xxxii) hypothesizes that these exceptional types can be attributed to a temporary influx of artistic talent into the Alexandrian mint.
