Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Octadrachm - Ptolemy I Soter Alexandria
| Issuer | Ptolemaic Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 294 BC - 282 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | 1 Octadrachm = 8 Drachms |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Log in to see details |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Diademed portrait bust of Ptolemy I Soter facing right, with an aegis knotted at the neck, rendered in the Hellenistic tradition with bold, naturalistic modeling. A small delta (Δ) control mark appears behind the royal ear. The effigy conveys regal authority through the pronounced facial features and the divine attribute of the aegis, associating the king with Zeus. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Ptolemy I spent decades carefully constructing a divine image — first as a living ruler, then posthumously as a god — and the heavy silver octadrachm was central to that project. The denomination itself was an innovation borrowed from the Ptolemaic gold coinage tradition, here adapted in silver at a weight standard that broke deliberately from Attic norms, signaling monetary independence from the old Macedonian system.
Svoronos 233 places this issue among the earliest posthumous or near-posthumous strikings from Alexandria's mint, a period when Ptolemy II was consolidating dynastic authority after his father's death in 283 BC.