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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;kevin McGonigal, post: 3576913, member: 72790&quot;]I know what you and posters write about the difference among the Ptolemies. They are very subtle. Except for the first Ptolemy, who issued an early tetradrachma based on the heavier Attic scale, all of their coins look pretty and weigh much alike to me. The letters Pi and Alpha might stand for the mint of Paphos but by the time of Cleopatra VII (THE Cleopatra) stood for the number 80 on bronze pieces for 80 drachmai. In what looks like the letter L and A, the L is a shorthand version E and stands for &quot;Etous&quot;, the year, while alpha is the number one. So whichever Ptolemy this is, this coin was issued in the first year of his reign. Sometimes, with a high regnal year, one can establish which Ptolemy it is as not too many Ptolemies had long reigns before they were offed by ambitious family members. As it was the life expectancy of a Ptolemy was about as long as that of Third Century AD Roman emperors, bad risks for life insurance companies.</p><p><br /></p><p>The coins posted here are of Ptolemy II, which can be dated to just after ca. 275 BC because of the small Gallic shield, placed on coins of Ptolemy II to commemorate a victory over an invading army of Gauls. [ATTACH=full]953823[/ATTACH] [ATTACH=full]953824[/ATTACH] The next coin is of Ptolemy VI, the year Beta of his reign, the third coin is of Ptolemy XII, the father of Cleopatra VII, who had two reigns and who had a high regnal year of Kappa Theta or 28. It can be pretty complicated and confusing collecting tetradrachmas of the Ptolemaic kings of Egypt.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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