Mnaieion - Arsinoe II

Issued posthumously — Arsinoe II died around 270 BC — this heavyweight gold piece was struck under Ptolemy III as part of a sustained dynastic cult built around his deified predecessor and aunt-turned-stepmother. The Ptolemaic court had invested heavily in her apotheosis, and these large gold pieces functioned as instruments of that religious-political program, circulating as proof of divine favor rather than as everyday transactional currency.

The mnaieion denomination, equivalent to a full gold mina, was among the largest gold coins produced in the Hellenistic world by weight.