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Type/Object Name: Ob: Head of Alexander facing right and wearing an elephant skin and aegis. ΔΟ to the right of the elephant ear. | Re: Athena Alkidemos, standing, facing right, holding a spear at the ready in her right hand and a shield, boss up in her left. The goddess is wearing a chiton and drape. An eagle stands to her right, its wings folded. Inscription: ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΕΙΟN (ALEXANDREION = “of the people of Alexandria”). 

Dates: late 4th century BCE

Medium: Silver, Tetradrachm

Dimensions: Diameter 26.8 mm, Weight 16.2632 g

Credit Line: Courtesy of John Nebel

Notes: Egypt and the Coming of Rome

This coin was minted by Alexander’s half-brother, Ptolemy, when he was ruler of Egypt (325-305 BCE). The obverse shows Alexander wearing an elephant skin. This is held to be the first “true portrait” of Alexander, with features that are distinct and recognizable in contrast to the earlier Heracles coins that are more generic. The elephant skin Alexander wears rather than Heracles’ lion skin is a reference to his conquests in the Indus River Valley – and thus to the vast extent of his empire. The reverse, with its strongly archaizing Athena, reaffirms the notion of conquest. The eagle, long the bird of Zeus, was beginning at this point to be used by the Ptolemies as their own family badge and thus makes visual reference both to the king of gods and the King of Egypt.

Collection: Coin, John Nebel

Bibliography: Zervos, Orestes H. 1974. Ph.D. Dissertation. The Alexander Mint of Egypt. Page 95 #20B (300 style 1). Ann Arbor: Xerox University Microfilms; Jenkins, G.K. 1960. An Early Ptolemaic Hoard from Phacous. In American Numismatic Society Museum Notes IX. Page 25 and Plate IV #3 (same dies). New York: American Numismatic Society.