Ancient Coins: A Pharaoh´s Tetradrachm
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- čas přidán 29. 06. 2021
- Lets head over to the sands of Egypt, where the Ptolemaic pharaohs were the first to strike coins in abundant quantity. Today we are looking at a Tetradrachm of Ptolemy IX, who ruled Egypt in the second century BC.
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Egyptian coins form a major part of my collection. I have Ptolemy I as Satrap (minted at Memphis), Ptolemy II (minted at Tyre), Ptolemy VI with Cleopatra I (diobol), Ptolemy VIII (Paphos mint), Cleopatra VII with Ptolemy XV (Alexandria mint, year 19), as well as numerous Roman Egyptian coins.
I have a didrachm of Ptolemy VI Philometor! Its abit worn but a beautiful coin nonetheless!
Edit: VI not IV :P
You first get me into Roman and now Egyptian? My wallet can’t handle it 😉
my first tet was a ptolemy, there are some very fairly priced ones. Also, I feel like you have one you have them all since the style didn't change much.
I wonder why before the Ptolemies the Egyptians didn't have coinage at all.
This can be attributed to many reasons, but all stay on the real of theory.
Some say Egypt was quite economically insular before that time, so they really didn't need coined metal that much, others say that the trade with precious metals in non-coined form, which happened, was enough for foreign trade to flow properly.
For thousands of years Egypt had a very vibrant internal and external trade based solely on commodities, metals and other goods, which in itself makes an argument that an economy could work without coins.
I want to go to Egypt, if the country is as pretty as its coins, it must be a great place
I have a few, I posted a few pictures of them on the reddit
Where can I see them?
I have a King Ptolomy Coin very similar to the one in the video! What is it worth??
These are common, under 200 Dollars in this condition
I see the on the reverse side the PTOLEMAIOS letters are almost half missing but the BASILEOS is slightly inset indicating a miss hit with the minting stamp - is that a correct assumption ? If not, was it clipping ?
What proportion of coins that have come down to us are clipped ? I guess you can tell from the weight, even if it was a skilful a symmetrical shaving of the metal. I am guessing most of them ...
Also - I am sure there must be a good reason for this but why did the ancients not mill the edges to deter clipping? or was it the case that it was it not a widepread problem ? or perhaps (more likely to my mind, having read a fair bit about the later Roman Empire) the clipping was done on an industrial scale by the Senatorial/ruling class ?
Ancient coins are generally much thicker, so they arent commonly clipped. In the case of this Ptolemy Tetradrachm, the weight of the coin is good, which indicates no clipping, just an off-center strike.
Medieval coins, however, are much thinner, due to them being stamped on cold sheets of metal instead of the heated blanks from ancient times, which allows them to be easily clipped. Clipping coins was a very common occurrence on medieval times, and generally punishable by death.
Edge milling is a complex process only achieved in modern times.
@@ClassicalNumismatics Wow - that surprises me about the clipping - but now thinking about it - it makes sense - the middle ages were pretty anarchic and lawless compared to Roman times. You have restored my faith in the Ancients !
Thanks for the reply - there is one more thing before I fade away into anonymous contented viewership of your excellent channel.
I have spent many a happy hour on forumancientcoins dot com trying to figure out abbreviations etc... and what the coins can tell us about the past (I realised emphasising Trib Pot was very important to early Emperors) - but also coins have the only eye-witness pictures of long vanished structures !! .... such as the Colossus of the Colosseum (who is depicted holding the same rudder as you showed Fortuna does on one of your videos) or the Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol or The Pharos etc .... I have stumbled across a few and been thrilled by them - how many more are there I wonder ??
Can you do a show on what coins (in tiny icon format admittedly) show us about the lost civic scenes and structures of the past.
Well thank you for your time - love your channel - Ave Atque Vale
Thats a cool idea, I should definitely start catching footage of "architectural coins".
These were quite common, particularly so on provincial issues, as they celebrated buildings commissioned by the Emperors.
Thanks! :)
Was there some benefit to the thinner coins or was this just a byproduct of simplifying the minting process maybe?
@@jessefisher1809 Thick coins required a furnace capable of reaching incredibly high temperatures. That requires a lot of knowledge to build and maintain, fuel and manpower. Some roman imperial mints employed hundreds of people.
If you are a poor medieval kingdom, you simply cant afford such complicated facilities, therefore as an alternative to mint coins, you just have a simpler furnace capable of heating up the metal ingots enough for them to be hammered into a flat, thin sheet of metal.
From that thin sheet of metal, you can cut your blanks and strike your coins. Its overall a much simpler process, but obviously, it makes coins that aren't as good looking, and are prone to clipping.
Nice. You should make a video about Seleukid coinage.
Im gathering footage, there will definitely be a Seleucid episode :)
LOL I have a few coins hammered in ancient Egypt... if I include Greek, Roman, Byzantine and Medieval Islamic I would say about 2,000
ive one my dad got in war from egypt its very good see most ever thing Cleopatra VII 51-30 BC, Ptolemaic Kingdom M Antony Yr 11 Tetradrachm Coin but its says baliae.l.l i think