Featured From Roman Alexandria: Trajan Drachm with Elephant Quadriga

Nice coin!

Using serpents would seem, to me, the perfect mode of transportation to use when traffic is at a crawl.

 

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I currently don't have any ancient coin with elephant design. However, while flipping through my old antiquities photos, I noticed I have an ancient artifact with an elephant on it. This is a Gandhara stone cosmetic plate with an elephant design.

 

Samuel Sharpe, (1799 - 1881), I think it is in one of these two books: "The History of Egypt under the Romans" or "History of Egypt until 640 AD", Book II; all of his publications are available at
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Sharpe,+Samuel,+1799-1881

It is in "History of Egypt until 640 AD", Chapter XIII, "The reigns of Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian and the two Antonines", 98, His coins of the eleventh year

 

Hi Donna, that's a great coin. congrats! I'd much rather have a coin worn with good surfaces than something with rough patina.

Here's my favorite Trajan drachm of Alexandria. It's fun not only because it's an architectural type but also because it's a brokage (see obverse)?

Trajan - Alexandria 111-112AD - Year 15 - Milne 670, Emmett 581
Submitted to RPC: https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coin/345346

 

Donna, Your large Alexandrian bronze is a very attractive coin despite the wear on the coin . It has an excellent uniform patina, & I wouldn't be concerned with the small spot of corrosion at 6:00 o'clock. I find the treatment of the reverse composition somewhat amusing . The engraver has scaled-down the size of the elephants compared to the size of the chariot & emperor, making the creatures almost miniature. This reverse treatment is often seen on Roman provincial coins. Was this intentional to increase the stature of the emperor or was it incompetence of the engraver ? My large bronze of Gordian III, in a quadriga of horses has the same treatment of the reverse composition .

 

That is a downright lovely drachm, Donna! I like the reverse type very much as well, which is one that's still on my want list.

My latest drachm of Alexandria is this one from the Zodiac series. I will never get the full set, but I'll happily add to my collection any that I'm lucky enough to win.


ANTONINUS PIUS
AE Drachm. 25.25g, 35.7mm. EGYPT, Alexandria, RY 8 (144/5). Dattari (Savio) 2958; Emmett 1461.8; K&G 35.267; RPC IV.4 online temp 13540. O: ΑΥΤ Κ Τ ΑΙΛ ΑΔΡ ΑΝΤⲰΝΙΝΟC CЄΒ ЄΥC, laureate head right. R: Zodiac Series, Mars in Aries: Ram (Aries) leaping right, head to left; to upper left, helmeted and cuirassed bust of Ares (Mars) to right; above, star; L H (date) below.
Ex Rhakotis Collection

 

Thanks so much, @cmezner. I managed to find the reference at p. 155 of Vol. II of the 1905 printing (from the 1876 revised edition), at https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=uc2.ark:/13960/t6445kj1n&view=1up&seq=187&q1=trajan:



While this interpretation is imaginative, and Reverend Sharpe was probably well-respected in his day -- he died in 1881; see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Sharpe_(scholar) -- I don't think I can give it much credence as evidence that Trajan ever visited Egypt, given the admitted silence of the historical record. Especially given the fact that, far from appearing only in the 14th year of Trajan's reign, the "emperor in elephant quadriga" reverse first appears in Year 5, and then every year thereafter, in one form or another, from Year 10 through Year 18, and again in Year 20. See Emmett 462 at p. 35.

The idea that Isis Pharia sailing in her galley with the Pharos in the background "certainly" represents Trajan departing from Egypt in Year 16 seems very farfetched, given how common that type is (with or without the lighthouse) under many emperors, including those who were certainly never in Egypt like Antoninus Pius. My own example:



I checked BMC 16 Alexandria [Pool, Reginald Stuart, A Catalog of the Greek Coins in the British Museum, Vol. 16, Alexandria (London, 1892)] to see if it said anything about the elephant quadriga type in general, and found the following (not specific to Trajan) at p. lxxxviii in the introduction:

"The triumphal types are those in which the Emperor is represented in a triumphal quadriga of horses or elephants, holding laurel-branch and aquila (Pl. xxvii, 508, 863, 866). A singular type is that in which he is seen in a biga of Centaurs, a subject clearly of this class, notwithstanding its scenic character. It is to be noted that the Centaurs hold figures of Nike, and the type occurs under two Emperors, Domitian (338) and Trajan (507 . . .)."

As I noted previously, the elephant quadriga appears on the coins of Domitian, Trajan, and Hadrian. In any event, this paragraph does not suggest that these triumphal types necessarily imply the emperor's actual presence in Alexandria, in any particular year or at all.

The only other reference I was able to find in my cursory research regarding Trajan's presence (vel non) in Egypt is in an article entitled "Trajan and Egypt," by P. J. Sijpesteijn, at pp. 106-113 of the book Studia Papyrologica Varia conscripserunt Instituti alumni (Series: Papyrologica Lugduno-Batava, Volume: 14) (Brill, 1965). The first two pages (pp. 106-107) can be read for free at https://brill.com/view/book/9789004427662/BP000005.xml if one doesn't wish to pay $34.95 to read the entire 8-page article! At p. 107, the author states the following:



Absent contrary evidence, I think I will view this statement as conclusive, meaning that the elephant quadriga as a triumphal type is strictly symbolic, and does not imply an emperor's actual presence in Alexandria. Wholly apart from the fact that, as @robinjojo points out, the entire concept of an elephant quadriga (or even a biga) is highly impractical given, among other things, the problem that unless the chariot were on wheels about 10 feet high -- or the emperor were about 15 feet tall himself (see @Al Kowsky's comment) -- the emperor would be continually faced with four elephant rear ends directly in front of and above him, doing what elephant rear ends do.

 

@DonnaML, perfect and clear logical arguments, Q.E.D.
So it is a representation of an emperor, in this case Trajan, going back to an ancient Ptolemaic tradition

 

You are correct. Domitian never visited Egypt either. So, the type is not a reliable marker on whether or not the emperor had toured the province or not.

Btw, fantastic coin Donna!

 

Stunning coin, great thread and lots of wonderful coins throughout.
Though, I would strongly recommend leaving it in distilled water for a few days and lightly scrubbing off the bronze disease.
It most certainly is NOT benign. As the bottom of the coin shows us, the coin had active BD in the past. And you can see it looks to be starting up again sling the outer perimeter. It's that light green crap that you want to remove.
I'm not much for Alexandrian coins... after ATG that is, but do have these two:

 

Thx. I took it out, & now will put it back in for a while. Scrub it with what afterwards?

 

Thanks. Do you still have your Domitian elephant quadriga? I see that you posted one a few years ago.

 

I'm a fan of toothbrushes. If it's really nasty, which yours isn't. You can trim your toothbrush heads with scissors to make it more abrasive, I read. But again, yours isn't out of control. After a couple weeks or so I then bake mine in the oven at 350 for 45 minutes, let cool, then soak in Verdi-care.
Though, some folks take the conservative route and soak in distilled water, scrub and watch to see if the green creeps back.
Best of luck! And again, wonderful coin

 

Yeah, no. No ovens for this coin! I'll stick to the distilled water and maybe a toothbrush.

 

Here is my Trajan elephant quadriga.



34 mm. 25.49 grams.
AVT TRAIAN CEB ΓEPM ΔAKIK
Autokrater Trajan Augustus Germanicus Dacicus
LIΔ (year 14, AD 111) above the elephants is not strong, but legible.

I wonder if some of you new collectors envy the collections of some of our older members who are able to show coins in many threads like these? Take heart! They have more coins than new collectors because they have been collecting longer. I started in 1971/1972 and I got this coin my first year. That's 49 years ago. Imagine your collection 29 or 39 or 49 years from now. It will be impressive. I doubt CoinTalk will still exist, but if it does I'm sure you, too, will have lots of coins to show!

 

First @DonnaML , I am glad you are feeling better. Secondly, I love your new coin. An interesting emperor and elephants?...Yes please.

Here is mine. Forum misattributed this coin as RIC 257 (Titus). It isn't. It is RIC 258 (Titus). The only difference is the use of VESP or VESPAS on the obverse. It is a divvs Vespasian issue which was another reason I wanted it. However, it was the presence of elephants that cinched it for me. Of course, I really liked the inclusion of a mahout for every elephant.

Orichalcum sestertius, Rome mint, weight (34.6mm, 24.300g, die axis 180o),
Struck under Titus, 80 - 81 A.D.;
Obverse DIVO / AVG / VESPAS in three lines, S P Q R (Senatus Populusque Romanus - the Senate and the Roman people) in exergue, statue of Vespasian seated in an ornate quadriga of elephants right, each elephant with its own mahout, statue holds a scepter in right hand, Victory in left hand;
Rev: IMP T CAES DIVI VESP F AVG P M TR P P P COS VIII, legend around large S C (Senatus Consulto);
RIC 258; BMCRE II 223.
Ex Numismatik Naumann auction 88 (5 Apr 2020), lot 1088 (part of); rare;
Purchased from Forum Ancient coins June 5, 2021

 

Nice one Donna! I love the Roman coins with quadrigas (4 horses) and the ones with bigas (2 horses).

I have a bid on this quadrigatus that’s winning right now but I probably won’t win in the end .

Anonymous. Ca. 225-214/2 BC. AR didrachm or quadrigatus (23mm, 6.64 gm, 7h). NGC AU 5/5 - 3/5, overstruck. Uncertain mint. Laureate head of youthful Janus, two small annulets on top of head / Jupiter, hurling thunderbolt with right hand, scepter in left, in fast quadriga right driven by Victory; ROMA incuse on raised tablet below. Crawford 29/3. Sydenham 64.

It says “youthful Janus” is on the obverse but according to some historians & numismatists like Michael Crawford it’s actually Castor & Pollux since Janus almost always has a beard.




I’ve always loved the coins that have “ROMA” on them ^_^

Glad to hear you’re feeling better

 

Yes, it's currently resting easy in a bank vault.

 

Got any pics?

 

https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?album=5965&pid=156709#top_display_media