Featured Ptah - the Creator God of Memphis

Discussion in 'Ancient Coins' started by Jochen1, Nov 18, 2019.

  1. Jochen1

    Jochen1 Well-Known Member

    Dear Friends of ancient mythology!

    I want to post a series of articles about coins from Alexandria. Here is the first one.

    The Coin:
    Egypt, Alexandria, Hadrian, AD 117-138
    AE - tetradrachm, 24mm, 12.82g, 330°
    struck AD 127/8 (year 12)
    Obv.: AVT KAI - TPAI AΔPIA CEB
    Bust, draped and cuirassed, seen from behind, laureate, r.
    Rev.: L ΔΩΔE - KATOV (year 12)
    God Ptah-Sokar- Osiris, wrapped in mummy bandages, bearded, sun disk on
    head, stg. r., holding with both hands sceptre with jackal head (Anubis sceptre)
    Ref.: Milne 1262; Köln 982; Emmet 883; BMC 637; Dattari 1445; Hunter 637;
    Mionnet 1050
    Rare, VF
    alexandria_hadrian_Milne1262.jpg

    The Creator God Ptah, the composer, ist one of oldest Egyptian gods. He is known from the 1st dynasty and his main cult location was Memphis, the metropolis of the old Empire of Lower Egypt. It is said that he has ruled already 9000 years previous to all other gods.

    Nevertheless he never was member of the first rank of Egyptian gods. He always stood in the shadow of Re, Osiris and Amun. But in the cosmogony of Memphis he became the supreme Creator. According to the cosmogony of Memphis Ptha has created the universe alone by the power of his heart and tongue, the power of his will and his words. We remember the gospel of St.John 1,14: Kαι ο λογος σαρξ εγενετο (The Word became flesh). He himself has created himself by his own.

    He was seen as god of the craftsmen and he is said to have invented the metallurgy. Imhotep, the famous architect of Pharaoh Djoser and erector of the step pyramid of Saccara, was suggested as son of Ptah. A central role he naturally has played in Karnak and in the village of craftsmen in the Valley of the Kings.

    Another myth tells that he has created the world on his pottery wheel. Thus he looked like the god Chnum. We see that he was a chthonic deity too. His wife was the lion goddess Sachmet and with their child Nefertem the Triad of Memphis was completed. As incarnation of the god the Apis bull was worshipped in Memphis.

    Usually he is depicted in the shape of a human mummy in a narrow robe, shaven head with a narrow blue cap. As symbol of his power he holds a sceptre composed of the Pheh sign, the Was sceptre and the Djed pile. Often he stands on a base formed by the hieroglyph 'maA' as symbol of the universal order. In Memphis he introduced the group of the nine gods from Heliopolis: Shu, Tefnut, Geb, Nut, Osiris, Isis, Seth and Nephthys. Created he has this group by his thoughts and his word alone. In this way he created the legal order too. In this world order he was the God of Light and Truth.
    morales_02.JPG
    Ptah, drawing by comic author Rafael Morales, 'Les Voyages d'Orion', 1994

    Already in the Old Empire his cult was merged with the cult of the hawk-shaped Sokar of Memphis, who probably has named Saccara. Because here was located the necropolis of the 1st dynasty the development of the Death God Ptah-Sokar is understandable. Gradually this god was merged with the other Death God Osiris to the deity Ptah-Sokar-Osiris, who was responsible for creation, death and resurrection. Hence many of his wooden statues have been found as burial gifts.

    During the Hellenism Ptah was equated with the Greek god Hephaistos.

    I have added

    (1) the pic of a statue from the British Museum, which was used as burial gift, and
    ptah_BM.jpg

    (2) a pic of the temple of Ptah in Karnak.
    temple of Ptah.jpg

    Sources:
    (1) www.manetho.de
    (2) http://www.egyptianmyths.net/sokar.htm

    Best regards
     
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  3. SeptimusT

    SeptimusT Well-Known Member

    Fascinating topic, @Jochen. So happy to see the sudden uptick in Alexandrian posts over the last few days! Here's my much less nice Ptah coin:

    Mummy copy 2.png
     
  4. ancient coin hunter

    ancient coin hunter 3rd Century Usurper

    No Ptah yet for me. I find it kind of curious to see which gods were picked out to feature on the Alexandrian coinage and who made the decision. Some are minor deities such as Triptolemus and the serpent Agathadaemon or Nilos. Other times Isis is depicted and in this case Ptah-Sokar-Osiris as a triad.

    Why no Khnum the potter, Sobek (though one could argue that the small crocodile on the reverse of coins featuring Nilos is a representation Sobek), Amun-Ra and so forth? And why not Hermes Trimegistus, the very popular thrice-holy Hermes of the 2nd and third century A.D., equated with the god Thoth, lord of scribes and wisdom.

    The city containing the main temple of Thoth at modern El-Ashmunein was known as Hermopolis after Hermes.
     
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  5. Broucheion

    Broucheion Well-Known Member

    Who says no Sobek? Heeeeeeere's Sobek!

    upload_2019-11-19_23-0-19.png

    Trajan, Dichalkon, Year 03 (119/120 CE)
    Obv: Trajan head, laureate facing right. No legend. Solid border.
    Rev: Sobek - crocodile wearing solar disk. Above: LΓ. Dotted border.
    Size: 13 mm
    Axis: 12hr
    Weight: (Duh, I forgot to weigh it before I put it away!)
    References: Emmett-0698.03 (R5); Geissen-UNLISTED; Dattari-1195; Milne-0498

    - Broucheion
     
  6. Jochen1

    Jochen1 Well-Known Member

    @Broucheion: Thank you very much for showing this coin. I have a similar one from Hadrian, but I wasn't aware that it was the crocodile god Sobek, because I have overlooked the sun disk. I was not alone: Förschner did not mention it in her description either. Sobek received the sun disk in the New Kingdom around 1400 B.C., because at that time he was considered to be a revelation of the sun god Re and was known as Sobek-Re. We must assume that Sobek-Re is also meant on these coins.

    These coins are so-called Nome coins, which were minted in Alexandria for the individual Egyptian districts (Nomoi). In the Old Kingdom there were 38 Nomoi, which had emerged from principalities of the Neolithic (Wikipedia). They were ruled by princes, who were relatively independent from the central power of the Pharaoh. Each Nomos was assigned a deity.

    Our two coins were minted for the Arsinoites Nome. It was added to the ancient Nomoi in the Greek-Roman period as the 21st Nome Noret-Pehet. Its capital was Arsinoe or Krokodilopolis, the today's Al-Fayum, a big city with more than 475000 inhabitants. His god was the crocodile god Sobek.

    Egypt, Alexandria, Arsinoites Nome, Hadrian, 117-138
    AE - Dichalcum, 2.01g, 12.87mm, 30°, dichroic
    struck AD 126/27 (year 11)
    Obv.: laureated head n.r.
    Rev.: Crocodile, sun disk on head, n.r. (Crocodile god Sobek)
    in the upper field LIA (year 11)
    in ex. APC (for Arsinoites)
    Ref.: Milne -; Dattari 6212; Geissen 3383f.; SNG Copenhagen 1085; Förschner 1344 (sun disk not mentioned)
    Scarce, VF, light green patina
    nome_arsinoites_hadrian_Dattari6212.jpg

    Best regards
     
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  7. Broucheion

    Broucheion Well-Known Member

    @Jochen1: Thank you for this information. Your beautiful coin clearly shows APC for the Arsinoite name. As that was not there on my specimen I did not think to look for it in the Nome Series. I've since located yours in Weber & Geissen (Die alexandrinischen Gaumuenzen der römischen Kaiserzeit) on page 195 (see Taf XI, #105).

    My coin type is not noted there under Trajan - and I understand why that would be - given the lack of nome abbreviation APC. So, I would not class my coin with the Nome types. Instead, I would consider it a 'regular' issue coin that may have been a prototype for the Nome coin.

    A brief review of Weber & Geissen (in French) by de Callatay is here (https://www.academia.edu/27298009/). Another more in depth review also in French by Bricault is here (https://www.academia.edu/26057615/). If one has access, the 10 individual articles that were the expanded and updated to form the book can be found in JSTOR.

    Again thank you for your keen eye.

    - Broucheion
     
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