Elephant Symbolism on the Coins of Ptolemy I (Illustration)

Illustration

by Branko van Oppen
published on 10 May 2019

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Elephant Symbolism on the Coins of Ptolemy I — Two coins issued by Ptolemy I:
1) A portrait of the deified Alexander the Great wearing an elephant scalp on his head, with a ram’s horn over his temple, and an aegis (sacred fleece) over his shoulder; on the reverse Athena Alcidemus, the patroness of Pella
Silver tetradrachm, Alexandria, c. 312/1-305 BCE; Nomos no. 12, lot 120.
2) A portrait of Ptolemy with diadēma (royal headband) and aegis; on the reverse a deified Alexander holding a thunderbolt and scepter standing in a chariot drawn by four elephants
Gold stater, Cyrene or Alexandria, c. 305/4-298 BCE; CNG no. 84, lot 751.

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About the Author

Branko van Oppen

Branko van Oppen is an exhibition curator and independent scholar specialized in Ptolemaic queenship as well as Hellenistic art and ideology.

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Uploaded by Branko van Oppen, published on 10 May 2019 under the following license: Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike. This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon this content non-commercially, as long as they credit the author and license their new creations under the identical terms. Please note that content linked from this page may have different licensing terms.

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APA Style

Oppen, B. v. (2019, May 10). Elephant Symbolism on the Coins of Ptolemy I. World History Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.worldhistory.org/image/10578/elephant-symbolism-on-the-coins-of-ptolemy-i/

Chicago Style

Oppen, Branko van. "Elephant Symbolism on the Coins of Ptolemy I." World History Encyclopedia. Last modified May 10, 2019. https://www.worldhistory.org/image/10578/elephant-symbolism-on-the-coins-of-ptolemy-i/.

MLA Style

Oppen, Branko van. "Elephant Symbolism on the Coins of Ptolemy I." World History Encyclopedia. World History Encyclopedia, 10 May 2019. Web. 16 Apr 2021.

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