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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;DonnaML, post: 7779971, member: 110350&quot;]I&#039;ve wanted a Roman Alexandrian coin depicting the serpent Agathodaemon for quite some time, and finally found one that I both like and decided I could afford. It certainly doesn&#039;t compare to [USER=56859]@TIF[/USER]&#039;s Agathodaemon riding a horse, but I haven&#039;t seen a nice example of that type for sale in a long time!</p><p><br /></p><p>Hadrian, Billon Tetradrachm, Year 3 (118/119 AD), Alexandria, Egypt Mint. Obv. Laureate head right, drapery on left shoulder, AYT KAIC TPAIANOC-AΔΡΙΑNOC ϹƐΒ (legend clockwise from 5:00) / Rev. Serpent Agathodaemon standing erect right, crowned with pschent/skhent [the double crown of Upper and Lower Egypt], tongue protruding, with coils enfolding caduceus to left and stalks of corn to right; L - Γ (Year 3) across fields. RPC [<i>Roman Provincial Coinage</i>] Vol. III 5149 (2015); RPC III Online at&nbsp; <a href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5149" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5149" rel="nofollow">https://rpc.ashmus.ox.ac.uk/coins/3/5149</a>; Emmett 803.3; BMC 16 Alexandria 665 (at p. 79) (1892) [ill. as RPC Vol. III 5149, specimen 2]; K&amp;G 32.68 (at p. 118); Dattari (Savio) 1541; Milne 918 [ill. as RPC Vol. III 5149, specimen 13]; Geissen 764 [ill. as RPC Vol. III 5149, specimen 18]. 24 mm., 13.81 g., 12 h. <i>Purchased from <a href="http://www.cgb.fr/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.cgb.fr/" rel="nofollow">http://www.cgb.fr</a> July 2021, ex. Collection of Aymé Cornu (1926-2020) (Engineer. - Head of the mass spectrometry laboratory at the Center for Nuclear Studies in Grenoble, France; see <a href="https://data.bnf.fr/fr/12598408/aime_cornu/).*" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://data.bnf.fr/fr/12598408/aime_cornu/).*" rel="nofollow">https://data.bnf.fr/fr/12598408/aime_cornu/).*</a></i></p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]1334667[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>*The serpent Agathodaemon or Agathos Daimon -- translated variously as good spirit, noble spirit, or good genius -- was sacred to Serapis, and was worshipped in every Egyptian town. “On the coins he is always represented erect, and usually wearing the skhent, in the midst of corn and poppies, generally with a caduceus, also rising from the ground.”&nbsp; BMC 16 Alexandria, p. lxxxvi. The Numiswiki definition of Agathodaemon, at <a href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Agathodaemon" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Agathodaemon" rel="nofollow">https://www.forumancientcoins.com/numiswiki/view.asp?key=Agathodaemon</a>, states as follows: “Agathodaemon (Greek: ‘good spirit’) was a god of the vineyards and grainfields and of good luck, health and wisdom. It was customary to drink or pour out a glass of unmixed wine to honor him in every meal. He was the spouse or companion of Tyche Agathe (later Agatha). He was represented in art as a serpent or as a young man bearing a cornucopia and a bowl in one hand, and a poppy and an ear of corn [U.S.: grain] in the other. The agathodaemon was later adapted into a general daemon of good luck, particularly of the abundance of a family &#039;s good food and drink.”</p><p><br /></p><p>It should be noted that there is a wide variety of coin types showing the Agathodaemon, under Hadrian and other emperors (and empresses) from Nero to Gallienus. For example,&nbsp; the serpent Agathodaemon frequently appears on tetradrachms, diobols, and drachms, and is shown both with and without the caduceus and corn stalks -- and, sometimes, when they are present, with the corn stalks to the left and the caduceus to the right instead of the order shown on my example. The Agathodaemon is also sometimes shown with the head of Serapis, and sometimes appears with the Uraeus snake facing it. As we know, it occasionally appears riding a horse, and there is one variety showing it riding a bull.</p><p><br /></p><p>The article entitled “The Agathos Daimon in Greco-Egyptian religion,” by João Pedro Feliciano, at <a href="https://www.academia.edu/27115429/The_Agathos_Daimon_in_Greco-Egyptian_religion" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="https://www.academia.edu/27115429/The_Agathos_Daimon_in_Greco-Egyptian_religion" rel="nofollow">https://www.academia.edu/27115429/The_Agathos_Daimon_in_Greco-Egyptian_religion</a>&nbsp; is quite informative, and it is worth quoting it extensively even though its primary focus is on the Agathodaemon as represented on stelae, reliefs, and statues, rather than on coins:</p><p><br /></p><p>“The Agathos Daimon, or ‘Good Spirit,’ was a multifaceted deity of ancient Mediterranean religion, usually depicted as a serpent, having its origins in the notion of the household god. The Good Spirit was honoured in both Greek and Roman religions, depicted as a serpent on Roman shrines and lararia, and honoured as a harbinger of luck among the Greeks. However, his most developed form flourished in Ptolemaic and Roman Egypt, where the Agathos Daimon became an exalted deity, far beyond the status of a household god, becoming associated with Shai and Kematef, the Egyptian creator gods, who were similarly depicted as serpents in the extant iconography, as well as taking on solar attributes and becoming conflated with Pre and Helios as a result of late Egyptian theological innovations. . . . .</p><p><br /></p><p>[T]he Agathos Daimon (Greek: <i>agathos daimôn</i>; also <i>agathodaimôn</i>), the ‘good spirit,’ [was] a typically serpentine deity who originated as a <i>genius loci </i>in traditional Greek religion, and was also invoked during banquets<i>. </i>A variant of this deity was Zeus Meilichios (invoked in Orphic Hymn 73, to Zeus as the Daimon), an old serpentine aspect of Zeus associated with fortune. Roman religion had a cognate genius figure as well, evidenced by the traditional snakes found on Roman domestic shrines and lararia. The origins of the guardian serpent archetype may be traced to the fact that snakes could protect a house from vermin, such as rodents, and consequently became associated with guardian spirits early on; this notion of the beneficent ‘house snake’ is found in several different cultures.. . . . [Lengthy discussion of development of surrounding mythology omitted.]</p><p><br /></p><p>A rich number of statues and bas-reliefs of Agathodaimon have survived, through which we can obtain a fairly accurate picture of his attributes. In the available corpus of material, Agathodaimon is primarily depicted as a serpent (bearded in most instances), or as a snake with a human head, that of Serapis with whom he was associated (as a result of either of their common solar aspects, or the fact that Serapis was a form of Zeus, and thus as Meilichios, was an aspect or variant of Agathos Daimon). His serpentine form is occasionally depicted as that of a cobra, but most of the time it is a viper-like animal.[Note: the cobra is usually associated with the Uraeus, not the Agathoddaemon.] . . .</p><p><br /></p><p>Other iconographic evidence reveals a connection between Agathodaimon and Hermes. On Roman[-Egyptian] coins, the god was often depicted with a caduceus, the traditional symbol of the Greek Hermes and the entrance portico to the catacombs of Kom esh-Shuqafa in Alexandria is flanked by 2 Agathodaimones, each wrapped around a caduceus. Just above them, and seemingly crowning them are round solar-like disks, in the midst of which is carved a Medusa face, presumably to guard the tombs against intruders. Agathodaimon was furthermore linked with Asclepius (Asclepius’ serpentine rod, like the caduceus is a point of convergence, as well as Serapis’ association with Asclepius and healing)..”</p><p><br /></p><p>However, the rod enfolded in the Agathodaemon as shown on my new tetradrachm, despite its absence of wings, appears clearly to be a caduceus (Greek kerykaion) -- i.e., two snakes wrapped around a staff -- rather than the single snake associated with the rod or staff of Asclepius.</p><p><br /></p><p>***</p><p><br /></p><p>Finally, if anyone&#039;s interested in a&nbsp; standard Agathodaemon like mine, but in somewhat nicer condition, I saw a couple of them in the $400-$500 range (more than twice as much as mine cost!). But if you&#039;re interested, send me a private message and I&#039;ll send you the links. (Mine is a tetradrachm; the two others I saw are both diobols, which appear to be more expensive than the tetradrachhm type of Agathodaemon for some reason.)</p><p><br /></p><p>Please post your Agathodaemon serpents, of any type.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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