Pentadrachm (Coin) Portraying King Ptolemy I Soter
Date:
285-247 BCE, issued by King Ptolemy II Philadelphos
Artist:
Greek, Ptolemaic; minted in Cyprus
About this artwork
Obverse: Head of Ptolemy I right, diademed and wearing an aegis Reverse: Eagle stands left on fulmen, wings folded
Ptolemy II used the portrait of the founder of the dynasty, Ptolemy I, on his coin. On the obverse, the aegis (a magical garment) worn by Ptolemy I alluded to Zeus as well as Athena; it was thought to protect the wearer and repel enemies, and it underscored the divine origins of the dynasty. On the reverse the eagle and the thunderbolt also recall Zeus, with whom, in the form of Zeus-Ammon, the early Ptolemaic dynasty associated itself.
Pentadrachm (Coin) Portraying King Ptolemy I Soter
Place
Cyprus (Minted in)
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
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Louise Berge and Karen Alexander, “Ancient Gold Work and Jewelry from Chicago Collections,” The Ancient World vol. 11, nos. 1 and 2 (1985), p. 22.
Karen B. Alexander, “From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago,” in Karen Manchester, Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago (Chicago: Art Institute of Chicago; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2012), p. 29.
Roberta Casagrande-Kim, ed., When the Greeks Ruled Egypt: From Alexander the Great to Cleopatra. Exh. cat. (New York: Institute for the Study of the Ancient World; Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2014), pp. 63, 93, fig. 4-6, 4-7, cat. 38.
Theresa Gross-Diaz, “Cat. 22 Tetradrachm Portraying Queen Cleopatra VII: Curatorial Entry,” in Roman Art at the Art Institute of Chicago (Art Institute of Chicago, 2016), para 14, fig. 22.3.
Art Institute of Chicago, Ancient Art Galleries, Gallery 154A, April 20, 1994 - February 6, 2012.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 154, Oct. 23, 2013 - July 31, 2014.
Art Institute of Chicago, When the Greeks Ruled: Egypt After Alexander the Great, October 31, 2013 - July 27, 2014; traveled to New York City, NY, the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World, October 8, 2014 - January 4, 2015.
The Art Institute of Chicago, Of Gods and Glamour: The Mary and Michael Jaharis Galleries of Greek, Roman, and Byzantine Art, Gallery 151, March 17, 2016 - June 30, 2021.
Martin A. Ryerson (1856-1932), Chicago; given to the Art Institute of Chicago, 1922.
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