Zeus Ammon

We normally think of Zeus Ammon as on coins of Egypt. Here is Zeus Ammon on a cute hemiobol from Caesarea in Cappadocia. It is 16-15 mm.


Trajan/Zeus Ammon
AYT KAIΣ NEP TPAIAN ΣEB ΓERM
Autocrater, Caesar, Trajan, Augustus, Germanicus
ΔHMARX EΞ YΠAT Γ
Tribunicia Poteste, Consul for the third (Gamma) time (AD 100).
Sydenham The Coinage of Caesarea in Cappadocia 168 [Edit: Metcalf, as I comment in another post below, says this is not from Caesarea, contra Sydenham. He does not attribute it, but suggests others give it to Kyrene (Cyrene).]
Sear Greek Imperial Coins 1068

Let's see some Zeus Ammon coins.

 

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Got none but thats a sweet little coin.

 

Excellent coin! I have but one.

Ptolemy IV
221 to 205 BC
Mint: Alexandria
Obvs: Zeus Ammon right
Revs: ΠTOΛEMAIOY BAΣIΛEΩΣ, Eagle on thunderbolt. Cornucopia to left
AE 35mm, 31.0g

 

Wow, that's a nice coin @Valentinian! I don't even collect Trajan, but might be tempted by that one.

 

This one is in miserable condition, but is very rare. I thought some of you might like it more than the usual suspects.


Cilicia Mallos. 425-385 BC? obol 0.63g, 8.5mm.
Obv: Ammon head right
Rev: Gorgon
Harlan J Berk, Buy or Bid sale 86, July 1995, lot 297. (Misdescribed as Pisidia, Selge: gorgon/gorgon and unsold).

Unpublished, but there is one in the ANS collection http://numismatics.org/collection/1944.100.54099?lang=en
Four specimens known. The ANS example, this one, one sold by Münzen & Medaillen in 2009 and one sold by CNG in 2010.

The spelling of the city’s name as ΜΑΡ rather than ΜΑΛ may help to date this piece. Barclay Head assigned all but one coin inscribed ΜΑΡ to 425-385 BC. He dates ΜΑΛ coins to 385-333 BC. A Mallos coin, winged man with solar disk / swan, of similar weight and fabric is dated to 425-385 BC by Edoardo Levante.

The date range, 425-385 BC, deserves to be explicitly unpacked. 385 BC means before the satrapal period. 425 BC merely means the end of the 5th century. Although the gorgoneion is within an incuse square, and incuse square fabrics are associated with early coinage, Wayne Sayles told me “We do not find any Mallos coins in Archaic hoards. The early coins do often have an archaizing style and there are frequent examples of archaizing throughout the Pre-Seleucid era.”

 

ZEUS AMMON, ROCKS!!

 

The reason we think of Egypt is they did him well. This tetradrachm is Commodus.

 

Sweet coin

*yawn* ... I think I'm gonna go watch TV (tomorrow is a big day)

Round #2 of the NHL playoffs (oooow, you guys must be giddy, eh?)

 

I've always liked coins from Cappadocia, and yours is just another example of the fine quality from there @Valentinian . Sorry I do not have one from Cappadocia.

PTOLEMY IV
AE36
OBVERSE: Diademed head of Zeus Ammon right
REVERSE: PTOLEMIAOU BASILEWS, eagle standing left on thunderbolt, looking back at cornucopiae under right wing
Struck at Egypt 221-205 BC
46.4g, 36mm
SNG Cop 221

 

NICE @Valentinian !

I have several from the Ptolemies of Egypt:


Egypt Ptolemy IV 221-205 BC AE 33mm 35g HemiDrachm Zeus-Ammon Eagle Tbolt

And another is in Honor of Alexander the Great's visit to Siwa where he was changed...


Thrace -Lysimachos AR drachm 305-281 BCE RARE Alexander head-Ammon horns - rev Lysimachos Athena

332 BCE, after a life-changing and very difficult personal journey with only a few select companions: He was pronounced son of the deity Amun at the Oracle of Siwa Oasis in the Libyan desert.

 

...everyone has one of these...

 

Wow, cool coin. Never seen a Caesarean coin like that.

 

Ummm ... "two" of these

40 mm and 70 grams ... they're coin-brutes!!






Okay ... "now" I'm going to bed

 

Ummm, I have more than a pound of these Ptolemaic Zeus-Ammons

I won't show them here though since you've seen them many times. Instead, here's a syncretionfest from Alexandria

Serapis-Ammon

EGYPT, Alexandria. Hadrian
year 8, CE 123/4
billion tetradrachm, 23 mm, 13.2 gm
Obv: ...TPAI AΔ... ; laureate bust right, slight drapery; crescent before
Rev: draped bust of Serapis-Ammon right; L-H across fields
Ref: Emmett 895.8, R5; Köln 858; Dattari (Savio) 1481; K&G 32.258
From a Hungarian Collection formed primarily in the 1930’s

Zeus-Ammon, wearing solar disc headdress

EGYPT, Alexandria. Aquilia Severa
year 5, CE 221/2
tetradrachm, 23.5 mm, 11.57 gm
Obv: draped bust right
Rev: head of Zeus Ammon right; L-E
Ref: Emmett 3025.5, R3; Geissen 2376; Dattari 4186

Serapis Pantheos, combining attributes of numerous gods including Zeus and Ammon:

EGYPT, Alexandria. Lucius Verus
year 4, CE 163/4
tetradrachm, 24 mm, 13.51 gm
Obv: ΛAVPHΛI OVHPOCCEB; bareheaded, draped, and cuirassed bust left
Rev: Radiate and draped bust of Serapis-Pantheos right, wearing calathus and horn of Ammon; trident behind shoulder; ∆/L in right field
Ref: Emmett 2360 (4), R1; Köln 2148; Dattari (Savio) 9420; K&G 39.77


EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius
year 5, CE 141/2
AE drachm, 20 gm
Obv: Laureate draped bust of Antoninus Pius right
Rev: Radiate-headed and draped bust of Serapis Pantheos (Serapis-Ammon-Asklepios-Helios-Nilus-Poseidon), right, wearing kalathos, ram's horn round ear; at shoulder, cornucopia; behind, trident with snake twined round it, L-Є in right field
Ref: Emmett 1676.5, R1; Köln 1412

 

@TIF, your Lucius Verus reverse is wonderful. Take an attribute from each of several gods and give them to one new god. I love that coin!

 

Nnniiice! Ms TIF!

 

kool, uncommon OP coin! nice coin post all. i have a Ptolemy l? (i don't know which, if someone knows, tell me)

 

Thanks! It was a huge splurge but worth it to me

I'm slowly gathering all permutations of syncretic coins of Serapis (himself an calculated syncretic invention of Ptolemy I and advisors). It's a fun area of focus.

 

The OP is a wonderful diminutive Zeus Ammon, and that pantheos is awesome, @TIF!

My 93g 46mm monster octodrachm. Ex Dattari. <<kaTHUNK>>

 

That is a spectacularly good example of the largest denomination... and ex-Dattari to boot? Color me green .