Catalog
Octochalkon - Kleopatra VII
| Issuer | Ptolemaic Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 51 BC - 30 BC |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm (204 – 30 BC) |
| 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 | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | An eagle with closed wings stands in left profile upon a thunderbolt, rendered in the standard Ptolemaic numismatic convention. To the left of the eagle, a single cornucopiae is depicted upright in the field. To the right, the Greek letter Π appears as a control mark. The encircling legend ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ ΚΛΕΟΠΑΤΡΑΣ, meaning 'of Queen Cleopatra', runs around the periphery of the reverse field. |
| 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 | ND (51 BC - 30 BC) |
| Additional information |
Cleopatra VII ruled Egypt for two decades while managing simultaneous entanglements with Rome's two most powerful men, yet her bronze coinage — produced at Alexandria — circulated in a kingdom already hollowed out by debt to Rome and internal dynastic conflict. The Ptolemaic monetary system had been declining for generations by the time she issued these pieces, with bronze increasingly substituting for the silver tetradrachms that had once defined the dynasty's commercial reach.
The octochalkon denomination places this squarely in the late Ptolemaic fractional bronze sequence. Svoronos 1871 assigns it to her sole reign period following the death of Ptolemy XIII in 47 BC.