Tetradrachm - Ptolemy XII Paphos

Paphos, on the southwestern coast of Cyprus, served as the island's administrative and religious center under Ptolemaic rule. These tetradrachms were struck there during a period of acute dynastic instability — Ptolemy XII had been expelled from Alexandria by 58 BC, and the years immediately preceding that crisis saw Cyprus itself annexed by Rome under Cato the Younger in 58 BC, effectively ending the island's mint operations. Coins attributable to the Paphos mint within this narrow window are consequently scarce relative to Alexandrian output of the same reign.

Svoronos 1862 distinguishes this issue by its specific die characteristics, separating it from the broader Ptolemy XII coinage that remains notoriously difficult to sequence chronologically.