Day of the Jackal: Philip II tetradrachm

The other Philip II, son of Philip the Arab. Today I received four new additions to my subset of Roman Egyptian provincials. This one can also be added to the Ancient Coin Animals by Alphabet thread: Hermanubis is shown with a jackal at his feet. To me it just looks like the forepart of a cartoon dog, perhaps Pluto... but it is indeed a intended to be a jackal.


EGYPT, Alexandria. Philip II as Caesar
Regnal year 4 of Philip I, CE 246/7
billion tetradrachm, 22 mm, 12.8 gm
Obv: MIOVΦIΛIΠΠOCKCEB; cuirassed bust right, bare head
Rev: Hermanubis standing facing, head right, winged caduceus in right arm and palm branch in left hand; jackal left at feet; L-Δ
Ref: Emmett 3592.4(Caesar), R1; Milne 3676

Hermanubis is yet another example of religious syncretism in the ancient world: Hermes (of the Greek pantheon) + Anubis (Egyptian). Hermanubis is often depicted as a jackal-headed man carrying a caduceus. On this coin instead of a jackal head, the jackal is at his feet.

As the messenger of the gods, it makes some sense to combine Hermes with Anubis, the god of the underworld. Was Hermanubis a deliberate creation-- Roman conquerors attempting to blend the cultures, thereby making their presence more palatable-- or was he the "natural" result of such blending? I do not know.

I have plenty of reading yet to do in order to better understand Hermanubis.

As for Philip II, there isn't much to say. Son of Philip the Arab; Caesar at age six; Augustus at age 9; murdered by the Praetorian guard at age 11.

...

Any other jackals out there? Let's see them . Or, Philip II tetradrachms or other provincials, or whatever you'd like to show that bears any relation whatsoever .

 

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Fantastic piece! I really love that portrait (I have an affinity for the Alexandrian style).
And how many coins can you think of that have a jackal in the design? Not many I'd wager.

 

Wow, that's a stunner of a coin TIF , the looks like AJ took that pic. (you're jus' that good!)

 

Thanks

I have diligently copied AJ's photo technique and editing style... right down to buying the same camera, using similar settings (all in manual mode except for focusing), and recreating his reflection template. BTW... perhaps you assume that since AJ has stupendous high end coins, he must have a fancy and expensive camera. Nope! It's just a Canon Powershot .

 

Thats nice, would love to have it. I just have the normal Antioch.


PHILIP II (247 - 249 A.D.)
SYRIA, Seleucis and Pieria
BILLON TETRADRACHM
O:AVTOK K M IOVLI FILIPPOC CEB: Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right. Seen from behind.
R: DHMARC EX OVCIAC VPATO D: Eagle standing right, wings spread, holding wreath in its beak, ANTIOXIA S C below.
Anioch, Syria Minted: 249 AD
26mm
13g
SNG Cop 1211, Prieur 473

 

I've only seen jackals on these Hermanubis coins of Roman Egypt, although there are also very rare dichalkons of Trajan and Hadrian with seated jackal reverses, plus Nomes dichalkons of Hadrian with seated jackal and standing jackal. I've never seen any of these dichalkons for sale.

There is a Festival of Isis coin with a jackal-headed god, Anubis (or Hermanubis).

 

The attraction to me is the Egyptian coin with an Egyptian reverse rather than one of the Greek gods or personifications usually seen on Alexandrian coins.

 

I am glad you qualified your jackel! I was feeling the same when I was looking, but was relieved when you said it: PLUTO... Nice coin! Yeah, Philip II would have had a long way to go to catch up to the REAL Philip II. Fantastic capture TIF! Oops, did I really say that as a Roman Republican? (Sorry, no Jackels here...)

 

Wonderful coin. I agree with Doug. Why was the Alexandria mint so stingy with Egyptian themes when so many other provincials frequently take up local subjects?

 

Although, Hermanubis is a Romanized Egyptian god.

Egyptian-themed reverses on coins of Alexandria and nomes:

Anubis
Apis bull
Canopus (of Osiris, Isis, and other)
Crocodile (common in Egypt but also the animals are of course found elsewhere too)
Harpokrates (another syncretion)
Hermanubis
Horus
Isis
Mendes
Mnevis
Nilus
Osiris
Pharaoh head
Ptah
Ptah-Hephaistos
Ptah-Sokar-Osiris
Serapis (the poster child for religious syncretism)
Skhent
Sphinx (Great Sphinx pose)
Thoth
Uraeus

I may have missed some. Given that Romans probably wanted Roman themes on their coins, the list seems rather generous although the types listed above do seem to be harder to find, except Serapis.

 

Someone summoned Hermanubis??



From my limited reading, the Ptolemies were responsible for much of religious syncretism that occurred in Egypt, Graeco-Egyptian or otherwise. Serapis (a mashup of Osiris and the bull god Apis) was the chief religious cult promoted under the Ptolemies. Doing so they wove elements of Greek culture and religion together with the indigenous Egyptian. By the time of the Roman rule, this had been going on for three hundred years, and one has to wonder how 'Egyptian' religion as was practised in Egypt (particularly Alexandria) was.

 

I didn't communicate myself well - I was in fact referring to the relative scarcity of coins with Egyptian themes as opposed to the actual number of themes. One wishes Horus et al were as easily found and inexpensive as eagles and various standing Roman deities.

Serapis is the easiest of course - he can be found on plenty of Imperial coinage as well.

 

When we, today, think of Egypt, we think of the pyramids and obelisks. Perhaps the Romans saw them as old junk.

 

I'm just going to put this here.

 

Very nice TIF. You've got an interesting niche goin.

PHILIP II
Pentassarion
OBVERSE: M IOVLIOC FILIPPOC, KAICAP below, confronted draped busts of Philip II & Serapis
REVERSE: MARKIANOPOLEITWN, Aesklepios standing right, head left, leaning on serpent-entwined staff; E in right field
Struck at Markianopolis
9.8g, 27mm
Moushmov 858; Varbanov 2090

 

Wow TIF, that's an awesome jackal => fantastic animal addition!! (congrats)

*sigh* ... no jackals in my animal menagerie (man, I need more animal coins)

 

Wonderful coin TIF!!!

Like everyone else, I love the 'theme' and wish I had more myself.

I believe I have a few of 'Isis' and 'Serapis', although not of Phil II....for that poor boy, I just have an Imperial issue and I'll try to post them later today.

 

Wonder if the Romans knew enough not to insult the gods in their own land.

 

All the coins shown so far are nice but as a late Roman collector this one speaks to me. Can't wait to get my own example of this type.

 

In my opinion, most collectors severely misunderstand Roman-Egyptian coinage when they think of it like the rest of provincial coinage. Unlike the other provinces, Egypt was under the direct control of the emperor. For centuries the province was administered for the personal profit of the ruler, rather than for the benefit of the Empire as a whole or for the citizens of the province. As such, I think its best to think of it as a highly-centralized and controlled Imperial coinage with a strongly limited circulation area. Just look at the types. Rather than celebrating local history and culture, the types focus solely on the Emperor and a few Imperial deities. Likewise, in other areas, the coins almost invariably name the ethnic or give some legend describing the area issuing them, whereas the Egyptian issues rarely have any reverse legend at all.

That's not to say the Roman officials in Egypt never experimented with more locally-flavored types. There is a fascinating series struck primarily during the reigns of Hadrian and Antoninus Pius for the various nomes of Egypt, usually with a depiction of a significant local deity. There's also the tesserae, which never show an Imperial portrait.