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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;TIF, post: 7941212, member: 56859&quot;]Here&#039;s another, an interesting Alexandrian.&nbsp; I haven&#039;t shown this coin before-- backlog of coins to show <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.&nbsp; It&#039;s an upgrade but I&#039;m keeping the coin that was upgraded <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1374606[/ATTACH]<b>EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius</b></p><p>AE drachm, regnal year 21 (157/8 CE)</p><p>32 mm, 23.22 gm</p><p>Obv:&nbsp; Α[ΥΤ Κ] Τ Α ΑΔ[Ρ ΑΝΤΩΝΙΝΟC CЄΒ ЄΥC]; laureate head right</p><p>Rev:&nbsp; Isis-Sothis, seated facing and holding a cornucopia and scepter, riding a dog (Sirius?) right; the dog is looking back at Isis</p><p>Ref:&nbsp; Emmett 1593.21; Dattari (Savio) 8581;&nbsp; RPC IV.4 online 15227.</p><p><i>From the Rhakotis Collection, formed in the 1960s and 1970s</i></p><p><br /></p><p>About the type:</p><p><br /></p><p>This coin represents Isis as the Egyptian Sepdet (Sothis in Greek), a personification of Sirius, the brightest star in the firmament. Sirius&#039; heliacal rising in mid-July heralded the coming of the Nile inundation, without which civilized life would be impossible in the scorching sands of Egypt. So important was this event to the Egyptians that the start of their civil calendar originally coincided with the heliacal rising of Sirius. However, although the Egyptian civil calendar only lasted 365 days, there are 365.25 days between two successive heliacal risings of Sirius. In other words, every four years, the civil calendar shifted by one day versus the “Sothic year”. After 1460 Sothic years, or 1461 civil years, the heliacal rising of Sirius again took place on the first day of the month Thoth (Egyptian New Year), and a Sothic cycle was completed. According to Censorinus (De Die Natali 21.10) such a cycle was completed in 139 CE, at the start of Antoninus Pius&#039; reign.&nbsp; (-from Leu Numismatik)</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Thanks... I agree <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.&nbsp; I love the reverse.&nbsp; So artistic!&nbsp; The engraver did a fine job of conveying distances.&nbsp; Look how the ship is shallowly engraved so that it appears far away, for instance.&nbsp; The coin is definitely of &quot;fine style&quot; <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie1" alt=":)" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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