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Trichryson - Ptolemy II Philadelphos Tyre
| Issuer | Ptolemaic Kingdom (Ptolemaic Kingdom (305 BC - 30 BC)) |
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| Year | 285 BC - 246 BC |
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| Orientation | Medal alignment ↑↑ |
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| Obverse description | Diademed and draped bust of Ptolemy II Philadelphos facing right, rendered in fine relief characteristic of early Ptolemaic regal portraiture. The effigy presents a strong, idealized profile with the royal diadem tied at the nape, its ends visible behind the neck. The portrait is enclosed within a beaded (dotted) border. The high relief of the flan reflects the confident engraving tradition of Alexandrian celators under the early Ptolemaic dynasty. |
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| Reverse description | A royal eagle standing left atop a thunderbolt, wings closed, rendered as the dynastic emblem of the Ptolemaic monarchy. Before the eagle, a club and a control mark are placed in the field. The legend BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΠTOΛEMAIOY is disposed around the field in Greek majuscule letters, with the control letter H appearing as an additional regnal or mint-control mark. The composition is framed by a beaded border, consistent with Ptolemaic gold coinage of the Tyre mint under Ptolemy II. |
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| Additional information |
The trichryson — a three-gold-stater piece — was among the largest denominations struck in the Ptolemaic gold series, issued from Tyre during a reign defined by aggressive naval expansion and cultural patronage on an extraordinary scale. Ptolemy II used the mint at Tyre, a city with deep Phoenician monetary traditions, to project Ptolemaic authority across the eastern Mediterranean at a moment when control of the Levantine coast was fiercely contested with the Seleucids during the Syrian Wars.
Pieces of this weight and denomination rarely entered everyday commerce; their function was closer to diplomatic payment or military treasury use.