Egyptian Sphinx on Roman coin

I received this Roman coin made in Egypt recently and it reminded me of something.


Antoninus Pius Provincial Egypt Bronze Drachm - Sphinx
Obverse: Laureate head left, "AYT K T AIL ADP ANTWNINOC CEB EYC"
Reverse: Sphinx seated right, wings raised, left forepaw on wheel, "L IZ" (year 17)
Catalog: Milne 2249
Diameter: 33mm
Weight: 19.6gm (Edited to add weight)
Struck Alexandria, Egypt AD 153-154

I visited Egypt in 1987 and got to see the real thing myself.

 

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Wow, that must have been pretty cool to visit Egypt... and that's a good looking coin. The Sphinx on the reverse is nice and very clear.
Do you know the weight, I know those bronze Drachms are usually heavy....

 

bet that was a fun trip. Nice coin

 

Realy like the coin :thumb: also got to see some of it's smaller relatives in Luxor recently

 

This is a very nice coin. While it may seem worn to some, Alexandrian drachms remained in circulation for a long time and often are much worse than this! The flans were prepared by casting a disk in a scooped out depression with tapered sides so they usually have less than great detail transfer on the obverse edges making full legend coins really unusual. There were many interesting types including a very rare zodiac series. They are very popular and expensive coins. This is exceptionally clear on the Sphinx and should be very welcome in a collection.

 

It's probably in the 100,000 ton vicinity.

 

Rather than a sphinx or The Sphinx I believe that might be a "cherubim" as depicted in the 3rd picture down. It seems there were a lot of misunderstandings about the people who built on the Giza Plateau and the Greeks just got it wrong. The Romans followed hard on their heals.

http://www.thelivingmoon.com/43ancients/01archives/Ezekiels_Story01.htm

 

I thought cherubim were creatures surrounded by wings. Or was that seraphim?

There are some Byzantine coins depicting this...


Also, by terming the figure on the coin a cherubim, you are incongruously applying a Hebrew term to a Roman depiction of an Egyptian deity.

 

Very neat coin, I like it.

 

I added the weight (19.6gm) to my original post.

 

Interesting factoid to think about:

Your coin is closer in years to our time (1850 years) than it is to the original Sphinx. The Spinx was built around 2500 BCE, about 2600 years before the coin was minted.

Just a little food for thought :eat:


guy

 

Very interesting thought indeed Bart.

 

The Greeks got everything messed up with the Egyptians.

Part of the problem was religion though.