Catalog
Stater - Ptolemy I Soter Cyrene
| Issuer | Ptolemaic Kingdom |
|---|---|
| Year | 299 BC - 294 BC |
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| Currency | Ptolemaic drachm (first reform of Ptolemy I Soter, circa 306 – 294 BC) |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
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| Reverse description | The deified Alexander the Great depicted standing to the left in full military attire, holding a thunderbolt in his extended right hand and grasping both the reins and a Macedonian shield in his left. He rides in an elephant-drawn quadriga advancing to the left, the four elephants rendered in profile conveying regal momentum. The legend ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ appears in the field, and the ΙΠΠΟΚΡ monogram is placed in the exergue below the ground line. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΙΠΠΟΚΡ (Translation: Of King Ptolemy.) |
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| Additional information |
Ptolemy I struck gold staters at Cyrene during a politically loaded window: the city had been under his control since 322 BC, seized from the rebel Thibron, but its loyalty was never entirely stable. Minting at Cyrene rather than Alexandria was a deliberate assertion of administrative authority over a wealthy Greek city that still thought of itself as independent.
Svoronos 102 places these within a tightly dated sequence tied to Ptolemy's formal assumption of the royal title in 305 BC and subsequent consolidation — the Cyrene mint closed not long after this series ended.