Harpokrates of Pelusium

407, Lot: 523. Estimate $100. Sold for $65. This amount does not include the buyer’s fee.

EGYPT, Alexandria. Claudius II Gothicus. AD 268-270. Potin Tetradrachm (22mm, 8.97 g, 12h). Dated RY 2 (AD 269/270). Laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / Harpokrates of Pelusium standing facing, head right, wearing [hem-hem crown], holding pomegranate branch in outstretched right hand and pomegranate in left; to left, small figure standing facing, plucking a pomegranate; L B (date) across field. Köln 3036 var.; Dattari (Savio) 5390; K&G 104.24; Emmett 3886.2. VF, brown patina, edge a bit ragged. Interesting type.

From the Finn Johannessen Collection, purchased from Hübert Lanz, 13 May 2008.

At Pelusium is the sacred image of Zeus Kasios; but the statue is that of a youth more like Apollo, so young it seemed. He has his hand stretched out holding a pomegranate, about which there is a mystical story. (Achilles Tatius 3.6)

Achilles Tatius’ description of the cult image of Harpokrates of Pelusium, given in his tale of the adventures of the lovers Clitophon and Leucippe, is frustratingly brief and offers no clue as to how the youthful deity became associated with Zeus. Coins and gems serve as the primary evidence for the iconography of the sanctuary’s cult statue.

The specimen in Cologne appears to be a distinct variety, with Harpokrates holding a pomegranate aloft in his left hand, rather than cradling a pomegranate branch.