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Denarius - Ptolemy Caesarea

Issuer Kingdom of Mauretania
Year 25-27
Type Standard circulation coin
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Obverse description Diademed and draped bust of King Ptolemy of Mauretania facing right, wearing an elaborately decorated diadem over curly hair. The king's youthful effigy is rendered in a Hellenistic portrait style, with fine drapery visible at the shoulder. To the right of the bust, a sceptre and a stylized symbol — likely a royal emblem or priestly attribute — are depicted in the field. The circumferential legend REX PTOLEMAEVS runs around the obverse in Latin characters.
Obverse script Latin
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Ptolemy of Mauretania — son of Juba II and Cleopatra Selene, and the last client king of his dynasty — struck this issue during the early years of his reign, which began around 23 AD following his father's death. His kingdom occupied a peculiar position in the Roman orbit: nominally independent, culturally sophisticated, and personally connected to both the Ptolemaic line of Egypt and the Roman imperial family through his mother. Caligula had him summoned to Rome and executed in 40 AD, reportedly out of jealousy over his splendid purple cloak at the games — after which Mauretania was absorbed directly into the empire as two provinces.