Egyptian God Zeus-Ammon - Ptolemaic Kingdom Ancient Drachm

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Ancient Zeus-Ammon drachm coin of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt. Struck over 2,200 years ago in Alexandria, Egypt during the time of Ptolemy pharaohs & queens.
The obverse depicts Zeus-Ammon with the horn of a ram and the hair of Zeus. The back depicts a pair of eagles atop a lightning bolt.
The Ptolemaic period began with the conquering of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. Egypt would then be governed by Ptolemy I, a trusted Macedonian lieutenant and companion of Alexander until 302 BCE, when Ptolemy I would establish himself as pharaoh of Egypt, granting himself the title Ptolemy I Soter (“The Savior”). The Ptolemaic dynasty would be the last pharaonic dynasty of the Egyptian kingdom and would last until 30 BCE, when it would end with the death of Cleopatra VI and the conquering of Egypt by the Romans. Ptolemaic Egypt represented a unique blend of cultures. Macedonian Greeks integrated themselves into Egyptian society and simultaneously Hellenized the Egyptian kingdom. The pharaoh was replaced by the Ptolemies, the Greek language replaced the Egyptian language in the upper echelons and administration of Egyptian society, and Greek soldiers inhabiting Egypt brought their own culture and religion, inevitably influencing Egyptian society.
Coins were a valuable multipurpose tool introduced to the Egyptians upon their conquest by the Macedonian Greeks. Not only did they serve a practical purpose, allowing for payment of goods and services, but they also served as a valuable propaganda tool. Before Greek occupation, the Egyptians relied on a trade good bartering system and didn’t have a coin-based economy. Ptolemy introduced standard coinage to the Egyptians, restructuring their economy and inherently making it more Greek-like. The coins also served to make the ruling class, or more specifically, Ptolemy I, richer, granting them valuable metals, rather than the agricultural and trade goods that the Egyptian pharaohs of the past would have counted as wealth. Additionally, the coins served as a valuable propaganda tool, cementing the rule of Ptolemy I under the leadership of Alexander the Great (Worthington, 1996). No other physical object would be in wider circulation or seen by a wider range of people. Thus, the images imprinted on the coins were carefully thought out and held a lot of meaning even through their somewhat simple depictions. By following the coins minted over the centuries in Ptolemaic Egypt, one can see how the Greeks slowly incorporated an increasingly Egyptian ideology into their culture. The first coins circulated in Egypt were minted in Memphis under the governorship of Ptolemy I, years before Alexander the Great had passed, and decades before Ptolemy I had declared himself as pharaoh.

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