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<p>[QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 6462503, member: 110350"]Can you provide any authorities supporting your position that representations of the "sphinx" as symbolizing royal power (pharaoh's head, crouching lion's body) preceded the construction of the Great Sphinx in the Old Kingdom? I'd be curious.</p><p><br /></p><p>Which one do we choose between two statues of crouching sphinxes, one 50 times as big as the other and possessing at least that multiple of fame, especially among the Greek and Roman administrators of Egypt? Do I really have to say it? Of course it's your burden to provide a rationale for why any Greek or Roman at the Alexandria mint would have decided to depict that type of sphinx, but, apparently, was no more likely to have intended to portray the Great Sphinx than any other. </p><p><br /></p><p>You've said nothing to refute the rarity of Roman Alexandrian coinage of this type. I correctly stated that there are only a handful of examples of Alexandrian coin-types with crouching man-headed Sphinxes resembling the Great Sphinx. On the other hand, as I indicated, there are quite a few Roman Alexandrian -- and Roman, and Greek -- coins depicting winged sphinxes, usually with female heads. In other words, Greek-style sphinxes. Nobody claims that those are intended to portray the Great Sphinx. But thanks for the addition of Hadrian and Lucius Verus to the short list of issuers of coins with crouching man-headed sphinxes. RPC lists 50 Hadrian Alexandrian types depicting a sphinx; only four of them are of that type. And there appears to be one Lucius Verus coin of that type, namely RPC IV 14605 (temporary). So my point still holds. If there were 100 coin-types portraying this particular kind of sphinx, perhaps some of them may not have been intended to depict the Great Sphinx. Less than 10? I don't think so.</p><p><br /></p><p>Is it still your position that your original post to [USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER] was "kind," rather than belligerent?</p><p><br /></p><p>I've said enough. We're not going to agree. As [USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER] said, we rarely deal with certainties of identification in ancient coinage absent a legend specifically identifying a portrayal. I think he was justified in considering his identification of the image on this coin to be more certain than most.[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>
[QUOTE="DonnaML, post: 6462503, member: 110350"]Can you provide any authorities supporting your position that representations of the "sphinx" as symbolizing royal power (pharaoh's head, crouching lion's body) preceded the construction of the Great Sphinx in the Old Kingdom? I'd be curious. Which one do we choose between two statues of crouching sphinxes, one 50 times as big as the other and possessing at least that multiple of fame, especially among the Greek and Roman administrators of Egypt? Do I really have to say it? Of course it's your burden to provide a rationale for why any Greek or Roman at the Alexandria mint would have decided to depict that type of sphinx, but, apparently, was no more likely to have intended to portray the Great Sphinx than any other. You've said nothing to refute the rarity of Roman Alexandrian coinage of this type. I correctly stated that there are only a handful of examples of Alexandrian coin-types with crouching man-headed Sphinxes resembling the Great Sphinx. On the other hand, as I indicated, there are quite a few Roman Alexandrian -- and Roman, and Greek -- coins depicting winged sphinxes, usually with female heads. In other words, Greek-style sphinxes. Nobody claims that those are intended to portray the Great Sphinx. But thanks for the addition of Hadrian and Lucius Verus to the short list of issuers of coins with crouching man-headed sphinxes. RPC lists 50 Hadrian Alexandrian types depicting a sphinx; only four of them are of that type. And there appears to be one Lucius Verus coin of that type, namely RPC IV 14605 (temporary). So my point still holds. If there were 100 coin-types portraying this particular kind of sphinx, perhaps some of them may not have been intended to depict the Great Sphinx. Less than 10? I don't think so. Is it still your position that your original post to [USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER] was "kind," rather than belligerent? I've said enough. We're not going to agree. As [USER=82616]@David Atherton[/USER] said, we rarely deal with certainties of identification in ancient coinage absent a legend specifically identifying a portrayal. I think he was justified in considering his identification of the image on this coin to be more certain than most.[/QUOTE]
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