Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
Chronicle
VOLUME 161
LONDON
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ISSN 0078-2696
Editors
Mr RICHARD ASHTON, Dr NICHOLAS MAYHEW,
Museum,
Oxford
0X1
2PH
ashton@rns.dircon.co.uk
Editorial Committee
THE PRESIDENT AND EDITORS
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CONTENTS
ARTICLES
Hoard
(CH
Was
8,
41
Late
by ALLA KUSHNIR-STEIN 4 1
Rhodian Bronze Coinage and the Siege of
DUNCAN-JONES
Arab-Byzantine
75
Coins
GOODWIN
Monetary
the
91
reces
BENDALL
255
NOTES
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vi
CONTENTS
The
Apophis
Snake
KERKESLAGER
on
287
HOARDS
329
REVIEWS
(A.
Johnston)
STANLEY
368
IRELAND,
Gree
Sptantike
JOHN
(T.
Brown)
CUNNALLY,
379
Images
of
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the
Illu
CONTENTS
EVKET
vii
PAMUK,
409
PLATES
AND
PRIZES
iii
ix
MEDALLISTS
HONONARY
FELLOWS
xii
PUBLICATIONS
XV
xix
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Mo
[plates 2-14]
Dedicated to the memory of Martin Price
ing a few late issues of Ptolemy II, early (but not late) issues of Ptolemy IH, a single
denomination of Ptolemy IV, and double eagle bronzes of two modules. It over
laps such major third-century hoards as the Getty hoard {CH 6, 30) and Newell's
1 Works on Ptolemaic coinage cited herein include: Svor. = J.N. Svoronos, Ta Nomismata tou
Kratous ton Ptolemaion/Die Mnzen der Ptolemer (Athens, 1904-8); SNG Cop. = A. Kromann and
O. M0rkholm, SNG Denmark: The Royal Collection of Coins and Medals , Danish National Museum
vol. 40: Egypt: The Ptolemies (Copenhagen, 1977); BMC = R.S. Poole, Catalogue of Greek Coins in
the British Museum. Ptolemaic Kings of Egypt (London, 1883); Price, Anubieion = M.J. Pric
Chapter 11, 'The Coins', in D.G. Jeffries and H.S. Smith, The Anubieion at Saqqra 1: The Settlement
and the Temple Precinct (London, 1988), pp. 66-70; Price, Sacred Animal Necropolis = M.J. Pric
Appendix J, 'Coins', in The Sacred Animal Necropolis at N. Saqqra (London, 1981); SNG Milano
= R. Martini, SNG Italia. Milano , Civiche Raccolte Numismatiche, vol. 13: Aegyptus, 1. Ptolemae
(Milan, 1989); Kln = W. Weiser, Katalog Ptolemischer Bronzemnzen der Sammlung des Institut
fr Altertumskunde der Universitt zu Kln, Papyrologica Coloniensia 23 (Opladen, 1995).
2 Recognition is due the Classical Numismatic Group, which allowed Dr. Price to record and
photograph 105 coins. The authors are extremely grateful to Richard Ashton and Andrew Meadows
for making Price's notes and photographs available for study.
3 Huston published his initial impressions as 'The process of attribution: Documenting a new
Ptolemaic bronze type', Stephen M. Huston FPL 130 (May 1994), pp. 1 and 4. The authors again
acknowledge the generosity of Classical Numismatic Group for making a lot of 43 hoard coins available to Huston for detailed study.
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c. 36 mm, c.48 g. Horned Ammon head r., wearing taenia with lotus blossom
forehead, dotted border/TITOAEMAIOY on 1., BAIIAEHI on r., eagle with s
wings standing 1. on thunderbolt, E between legs, dotted border. S vor. 448.
c. 30 mm, c. 24 g. Laureate Zeus head r., dotted border/As preceding, but eagle
with closed wings, 1 between legs. Svor. 449.
*2. 30 mm 20.95 g Recorded by Price.
C.30 mm, c.24 g. As preceding, but 0 between eagle's legs. Svor. 465.
3. 30 mm 22.11 g Recorded by Price. CH 8, 413, pl. 45, 6.
ISSUES OF PTOLEMY III
A Series
c.36-40 mm, c.45 g. Horned Ammon head r., wearing taenia with lotus blossom
over forehead, dotted border/TITOAEMAIOY on 1., BAIIAE1I on r., eagle with
closed wings standing 1. on thunderbolt, head reverted, cornucopia over shoulder,
A between legs, dotted border. Svor. 1166.
4 P. Vison, 4 A hoard of Ptolemaic bronze coins in the J. Paul Getty Museum', J. Paul Getty
Museum Journal 6-7 (1978-9), pp. 153-62; E.T. Newell, Five Greek Bronze Coin Hoards, ANS
NNM 68 (New York, 1935), pp. 51-67.
5 Price, Sacred Animal Necropolis, pp. 156-65.
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8. 35 mm 29.96
9. 34 mm 27.20
*10. 35 mm 30.06
11. 34 mm 28.39
12. 36 mm 28.67
g
g
g
g
g
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
by
by
by
by
by
Price.
Price.
Price.
Price.
Price.
c.27-28 mm, c. 16 g. Laureate Zeus head r., dotted border/As preceding, with A
between eagle's legs, but cornucopia in 1. field. S vor. 1169.
E Series
c.36-40 mm, c.45 g. Types of cat. nos. 4-7, but E (or variant) between eagle's
legs. Svor. 974; SNG Cop . 227-9.
*16.
*17.
18.
*19.
*20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
*25.
26.
27.
37
37
40
39
38
38
38
40
40
38
37
39
mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
41.80
48.27
44.29
42.17
45.28
44.27
45.92
39.26
47.42
48.10
47.02
42.01
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
by
by
by
by
by
by
by
by
by
by
by
by
Price.
Price.
Price.
Price.
Price.
Price.
Price.
Price.
Price.
Price.
Price.
Price.
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ZE Series
c.36-40 mm, c.45 g. Types of cat. nos. 4-7 and 16-34, but IE between eagle's
legs. Cf. Anubieion 516.
41. 39 mm 46.49 g Recorded by Price. CH 8, 413, pl. 45, 5. The control
is not entirely clear and could be E.
45.
*46.
*47.
*48.
36
35
37
37
c.35-38 mm, c.45 g. As preceding, but IE between eagle's legs. Svor. 1148,
pl. 37, 10, and 1149, with countermark; SNG Cop. 207-11.
Countermark (1. field): cornucopia in incuse rectangle
c.35-38 mm, c.45 g. As preceding, but between eagle's legs. Unpublished, but
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c.35-38 mm, c.45 g. As preceding, but W between eagle's legs. Svor. 1 142, pl. 37,
4.
c.33-38 mm, c.40 g. Ammon head r., with large horn beginning at
without basileion , dotted border/TlTOAEMAIOY on 1., BAIIAE1I o
c.33-38 mm, c.40 g. As preceding, with large horn beginning above forehead
behind single row of curls, and without basileion. Often of careless workmanship,
with unsmoothed edges, incomplete strikes, and even scars from lathing accidents.
BMC , p. 107, 37 (attributed to Ptolemy X).7 SNG Milano 331. Kln 134-5.
Stephen M. Huston FPL 130 (May 1994), p. 4, figs. D-E.
71. 33/5 mm 34.78 g Recorded by Price.
*72. 36 mm 46.53 g Recorded by Price.
6 The reference cited in CH 8 is actually Svor. 140, a tetradrachm. This was a misprint for Svor.
1140, which appears in Price's notes.
7 Our thanks to Prof. T.V. Buttrey for drawing this published reference to our attention.
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82.
83.
84.
85.
*99.
*100.
*101.
*102.
103.
104.
35
33
33
32
31
33
mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
mm
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155.
*156.
157.
*158.
*159.
160.
161.
30.5
34.1
27.3
28.4
29.1
29.8
30.4
g
g
g
g
g
g
g
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
Recorded
by
by
by
by
by
by
by
Huston.
Huston.
Huston.
Huston.
Huston.
Huston.
Huston.
Early issues of Ptolemy III (cat. nos. 4-40). These same issue
Cat. no. 41. This obscure variety seems to match a cryptically described find
from the Saqqra excavations (Anubieion 516, not part of the Anubieion hoard).
From its types it must be an issue of Ptolemy III. The control, if correctly read,
links this bronze to an Attic-weight silver issue in the name of Berenice II (Svor.
991) and to rare Sarapis-Isis tetradrachms (Newell, ANS NNM 33, 4-6) whose
style shows them to be earlier than the common Sarapis/Isis tetradrachm issue
with the control AI (Svor. 1124). The new bronze eases the strains imposed by the
apparent control linkage of these silver issues with the voluminous bronze issues
of Ptolemy IV marked IE and 2E.8
8 Price, Anubieion , pp. 68-70, proposed that these bronzes should precede those marked Al and AI,
but this is difficult to reconcile with existence of various additional bronzes employing the types of
the ZE series but marked with different monograms.
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issued during the reign of Ptolemy IV.9 All are of the same d
Svor. 1423, but the illustrations show that two are of the large
9 For the regnal attribution, see Newell, Five Greek Bronze Coin Hoa
11 The I, X, and IE series (Svor. 922-4 and 1151) also include the follo
c.43-45 mm, c.72 g; c.36 mm, c.36 g; and c.30 mm, c.24 g.
12 See Price, Sacred Animal Necropolis, p. 158, nos. 43 and 48, and pl. 44.
13 C.C. Lorber, 'Large Ptolemaic bronzes in third-century hoards', AJN 2000
hoards summarized there close with these issues, including the Getty hoar
Lower Egypt hoard ( IGCH 1691), IGCH 1696-1700, and a hoard found at Bi
Carnarvon and H. Carter, Five Years' Excavation at Thebes: A Record of
(London, 1912), pp. 43-5.
14 E.g., Frank L. Kovacs Mail Bid Sale 10 (1990), lot 221.
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191a-K, pl. 64, 7-16, and Malter 2 (1978), lots 273, 274,
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Cat. no. 164. This bronze is, to the best of our knowledge, un
from CH 8. It is the smallest coin in a hoard consisting pred
denominations. In style and fabric it appears to be later than t
tents, yet it is also more worn. Probably intrusive.
EVIDENCE FOR A REFORM OF THE BRONZE CURRENCY
Getty hoard, and in only two specimens (as our cat. nos. 49-56,
countermark).
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bearing the controls Al; X; IE; TE or ff1; W; none; K; and l.25 It is overwhelmingly concentrated on a single denomination, that with the diameter of
c.35-38 mm and an average weight of c.45 g.26 Countermarked examples of this
denomination are common, and their total absence from the third-century hoards
would seem to indicate that these hoards were deposited before the episode of
countermarking. Furthermore we suspect some connection between the cornucopia countermark and the curious distribution of this bronze coin in the hoards.
We hypothesize that the countermark denotes a reissue and revaluation of demonetized currency, in practice effectively limited to the denomination of c.45 g.
Bronzes larger than c.45 g disappear at this point. Not only did the Alexandria
mint cease to produce them; as far as we can tell from the hoard record, they disappeared from circulation as well. The large-horn Ammon bronzes and unmarked
23 The evidence for currency reform is explored by Lorber in Part 2.
was applied before 180. M. Jungfleisch, 'Rflexions de practicien sur les monnaies ptolmaques en
bronze', Bulletin de l'Institut d'Egypte 30 (1949), pp. 57 f., distinguished two episodes of countermarking with the cornucopia: one with a filleted cornucopia in a deep incuse, applied c.200 bc to
coins of Ptolemy m and IV, and a lesser episode at some point in the second half of the second century, when a crude cornucopia without fillets, in a shallow incuse, was applied to coins of Ptolemy VI
and of the early reign of Ptolemy VIH.
25 AI: Svor. 1125k; X: Svor. 1145, Svor. 9947 and e; TE: Svor. 1149 and 115 la; T7E or ifE: Svor.
1 140a; fa Svor. 1 144a; ft: Svor. 1 1427. The unmarked, K, and il varieties are all unique, recorded by
Lorber from the Egyptian lot in commerce with Jonathan Kern, September 1997.
26 Noeske, 'Gegenstempel', p. 198, cites 33 published examples of this denomination with the cornucopia countermark; his Korrekturzusatz, p. 206, adds 11 more from the 'Coinex' hoard. The large
Egyptian lot examined by Lorber in September of 1997 contained 83 examples of this denomination,
52 of them countermarked. The countermarks show many small variations in form and occasional
oddities of placement, including one applied upside down, and a few applied on the eagle's right wing
and/or chest instead of in left field. More than half of the examples of the 2= and t emissions are countermarked; nearly all specimens of the TrTE, fa and ft emissions are countermarked; and the unmarked,
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from Birabi; and the Carnarvon hoard, also from Birabi.27 The f
to exercise authority in the south. But the older currency had clea
etized before the loss of Thebes in 205.
canonical depiction of Ammon. These observations suggest: (1) that the new,
reformed coinage may have had time to win acceptance in Upper Egypt before its
secession; and (2) that the Egyptian rebels favoured Amnion's new iconography.
An alternative explanation is that the native state did not need to coin money until
its supplies ran low, at which time it imitated the principal types then circulating
27 For published reference, see n. 13 above.
28 The chronology follows RW. Pestman, 'Harronophris and Chaonnophris, two indigenous
pharaohs in Ptolemaic Egypt (205-186 B.C.)', in Hundred-Gated Thebes = P. L. Bat. 27 (1995),
pp. 101-37. For the form Hurgonepher, see W. Clarysse, 'Hurgonepher and Chaonnophis, les derniers
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rebel coinage.
The great majority of coins in the 'Coinex' hoard are relatively lar
tions, with diameters in the range of 29-38 mm. The large coins o
(cat. nos. 4-7 and 16-34), though not the largest bronzes struck by t
Weight range Ptol. III 29 Ptol. /V30 Large-horn Unmarked Double eagle
Ammon31 double w/cornuc. w/cornuc .33
52.01-53.00 4 3
51.01-52.00 4 2
50.01-51.00 10 5
49.01-50.00 8 4
48.01-49.00
25
47.01-48.00 41 10
46.01-47.00 34 6 2
45.01-46.00 54 7 2
44.01-45.00 66 12 2
43.01-44.00 50 4
42.01-43.00 34 10
41.01-42.00 30 7
4
7
1
1
1
2
The
Weights
from
unpublished
range
is
the
'Coinex'
weights
from
from
33.79
to
hoard
Paris
52.95
an
g.
33
Based
some
on
from
221
the
specimens
Kern
lot
of
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from
Septemb
16
38.01-39.00
37.01-38.00
36.01-37.00
35.01-36.00
34.01-35.00
1
1
33.01-34.00
3
3
3
1
1
1
5
2
32.01-33.00
1
1
3
31.01-32.00
5
30.01-31.00
5
3
29.01-30.00
12
13
28.01-29.00
14
11
27.01-28.00
26.01-27.00
2
7
25.01-26.00
2
14
24.01-25.00
18
23.01-24.00
29
22.01-23.00
43
21.01-22.00
20.01-21.00
27
13
19.01-20.00
10
18.01-19.00
17.01-18.00
16.01-17.00
8
1
15.01-16.00
The
large
marked
bron
and
separated
of
C.
issues
from
to
the
counte
weight
The
large-ho
of
diam
visual
impre
mode
of
cAO
The
next
var
unmarked
do
issues
in
its
d
range
depiction
of
On
t
variety.
was
very
slig
horn
Ammon
A
second,
lar
with
a
cornu
nos.
99-161)
l
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third-century engravers always depicted the eagle with its legs bar
but that under Ptolemy VI the eagle's legs are feathered all the way
claws.36 M0rkholm placed the change shortly after 180 at Alexan
unmarked (and undated) tetradrachms of the type Svor. 1489.37
top of the legs extends halfway down to the claws. The next variety, t
double eagle (cat. nos. 94-8), displays the same range of treatm
hoard double eagle bronzes with cornucopia (cat. nos. 99-161) were
34 For such juxtapositions, see Malter 2 (1978), lot 216 (36 mm, 34.57 g) and lot
24.47 g; 29 mm, 23.20 g); and SNG Milano 333 (33 mm, 29.37 g) and 334
19.22-25.95 g).
35 Lorber has collected weights for 29 specimens from Svoronos, SNG Cop., Paris, and ANS, with
around the end of the coregency of Ptolemy VI and Vm, based on the dated coinages of Paphos,
Salamis, and Citium.
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divided between specimens with bare legs and those with pro
from the fronts of the legs and extend down and back, somet
lar to the legs.) The second style of cat. nos. 99-161 - flowin
yet fully covering the eagles' legs - can also be seen on Alex
small, and the circumstances suggested to Price that they were 'h
vides a contrast with the 'Coinex' hoard, despite the overlap in con
that, from their weight and diameter, actually exemplify a larger and
38 O. M0rkholm, Early Hellenistic Coinage from the Accession of Alexander to the Peace of
Apamea (336-186 bc) (Cambridge, 1991), p. Ill with n. 20.
39 Price, Sacred Animal Necropolis, Hoards B-F, pp. 158-60.
40 Price, Sacred Animal Necropolis, p. 157.
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1493)
Hoard
E, 56-9 4
Hoard F, 73-97 25
The most common coin of the 'Coinex' hoard, the double eagle wit
(cat. nos. 99-161), is similarly the most common coin of the Necro
graded as 'fresh' by Price.41 These factors suggest that the 'Coinex'
the Necropolis hoards closed at approximately the same time.
CLOSURE OF THE NECROPOLIS AND ' COINEX ' HOARDS
Price placed the burial of the Necropolis hoards around 170 bc, attri
loss to the invasion of Antiochus IV.42 He cited as contemporary t
There are reasons to question Price's use of the Corinth hoard to date the
Necropolis hoards. Given the information available in 1981, it was natural for
him to equate the Saqqra double eagles with cornucopia and the two specimens
of Svor. 1424-5 from Corinth. But now it appears likely that the Saqqra coins
represent the heavier subvariety Svor. 1424-A (see note 41), whereas Margaret
Thompson's indecision in cataloguing the Corinth specimens as either Svor. 1424
or 1425 indicates that their modules were small and their weights relatively light.
41 Weights and diameters were published only for Necropolis Hoard F. The data are not as consistent as for the 'Coinex' hoard. Weights range from 17.41 to 28.75 g, with no clear mode. Diameters
are mostly 31-32 mm, with several larger (up to 35 mm) and one smaller at 30 mm. The lack of diameters in the 28-29 mm range suggests that these coins should be classified as Svor. 1424-A. The low
weights are typical for excavation coins.
42 Price, Sacred Animal Necropolis, p. 161.
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Ptolemaic coins, including 100 identifiable specimens belonging to the series marked
W: Svor. 1380 (2), Svor. 1381 (3), Svor. 1383 (3), Svor. 1384 (81), Svor. 1385 (8), S
may also add that the R series is closely similar in style to the Isis head series Svor.
Alexandrian origin has never been questioned.
45 It is tempting to look for an explanation in the native revolts against Ptolemy V
established in Upper Egypt was finally suppressed with the capture and executi
pharaoh Chaonnophris in 186; Lower Egypt was not pacified until 184/3. On the other
of a threat to Memphis has survived in the written sources.
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rency, or in kind. (2) In the same reign, the terms of exchange betw
roughly sixtyfold above the levels that had obtained throughout mos
46 E.R. Caley, The Composition of Ancient Bronze Coins (New York, 1939), p. 97
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argued that economic factors could not explain the data. They
original bronze drachm must have been replaced by a much s
reign is very scanty. Much higher price levels appear only from
more than tenfold) over the last recorded price, fueled probab
the civil wars roiling Egypt. Cadell and Le Rider rejected the
standard altogether and wrote instead of a rupture in the par
and silver coinage and of devaluation of the bronze currency
Ptolemy IV.
The new system of reckoning postulated by other papyrologists has been presented as a reform in accounting practices rather than a currency reform.53 Indeed,
Reekmans emphasized that 'the adoption of the copper standard did not follow
any numismatica! change', though he allowed that it led to the issue of some new
47 The ratio of 60 : 1 was calculated by EM. Heichelheim, Wirtschaftliche Schwankungen der Zeit
von Alexander bis Augustus (Jena, 1930), pp. 12-13; it is reiterated in T. Reekmans, 'Monetary history and the dating of Ptolemaic papyri', Studia Hellenistica 5 (1949), pp. 17-23; Reekmans, 'The
Ptolemaic copper inflation', Studia Hellenistica 7 (1951), pp. 69-75; R.A. Hazzard, Ptolemaic Coins :
An Introduction for Collectors (Toronto, 1995), pp. 83-4 with n. 55, pp. 95-6 n. 53; and K. Maresch,
Bronze und Silber: Papyrologische Beitrge zur Geschichte der Whrung im ptolemischen und
rmischen gypten bis zum 2. Jahrhundert n. Chr., Papyrologica Coloniensia 25 (Opladen, 1996),
50 Reekmans, 'Dating', pp. 19-23; Reekmans, 'Ptolemaic copper inflation', pp. 19-23, 79-80.
51 Maresch, Bronze und Silber, pp. 6 with n. 12, 21 with n. 3, 72-3.
52 H. Cadell and G. Le Rider, Prix du bl et numraire dans l'Egypte lagide de 305 175,
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VI 269. 58
What lay behind the elevated exchange rate attested by UPZ 1 149? J.G. Milne
wrote in general terms of an overvaluation of silver.59 Segr hypothesized a quadrupling in the face values of Ptolemaic bronze coins.60 Reekmans believed that
54 Reekmans, 'Ptolemaic copper inflation', p. 79 with n. 1.
55 Cadell and Le Rider, Prix du bl, pp. 80-2.
56 Heichelheim, Wirtschaftliche Schwankungen, p. 21; A. Segr, "The Ptolemaic copper inflation
c.230-140 B.C.' American Journal of Philology 63 (1942), p. 175; Reekmans, 'Ptolemaic copper
inflation', p. 63 n. 1.
57 Cadell and Le Rider, Prix du bl, pp. 53-6.
58 Maresch, Bronze und Silber, pp. 70-7; on the stater price of twenty drachms, see pp. 36-7
(demotic sources), 58, 72-3, 82
59 J.G. Milne, "The currency of Egypt under the Ptolemies', JEA 24 (1938) p. 204.
60 Segr, 'Ptolemaic copper inflation', p. 178.
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The numismatic evidence appears to contradict other aspects of the papyrologists' theories. The extensive use of countermarks in the course of currency
reform belies the claim of Reekmans and others that accounting practices were
altered without any outward change to the coinage. The probable date of the cur-
rency reform - c.207-206 or a little earlier - poses a challenge to the papyrologists' high chronology. Reekmans' date of 210 for introduction of the so-called
copper standard appears vulnerable to criticism, since most of his documentary
evidence can be dated only conjecturally to the reign of Philopator.74 Maresch's
extensive lists similarly fail to establish dramatically higher price levels before
the early second century.
Upper Egypt in 207/6 or 206/5, and the formation of a separate kingdom there in
idents of the chora who bore the major cost of reform. Conceivably the outrage
to men of some substance made the difference between the endemic but uncoor-
HYPOTHESIS A
cornucopia in the die also has a distinctive position for each denomination.
74 Reekmans, 'Dating', pp. 19-21; 'Ptolemaic copper inflation', pp. 69-70 and 108.
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countermarked c.36 g denomination could not reproduce the design of the contemporary c.45 g denomination, which lacked a cornucopia in the die, but instead
imitated the abundant and still circulating c.45 g bronzes struck by Ptolemy III,
with the cornucopia over the eagle's shoulder (see cat. nos. 4-7 and 16-34 of the
'Coinex' hoard). These patterns suggest that the countermarks were applied to
authorize old coins to circulate at the face value formerly attaching to the next
larger module in the hierarchy. This interpretation is consistent with the apparent
In discussing the Sacred Animal Necropolis hoards from Saqqra, Martin Price
hypothesized that the double eagle reverse type was a denomination marker.79
This type is a constant of cat. nos. 63-161 of the 'Coinex' hoard, likely signalling
that double eagles with the cornucopia (cat. nos. 99-161) had the same face value
as the large-horn Ammon bronzes (cat. nos. 63-93) despite differences in diameter and weight. Each of these varieties was, in turn, the largest bronze coin of its
time, and the shrinkage of the modules was in fact fairly subtle.
From the evidence of countermarks and of types it is now possible to propose
a fairly specific hypothesis concerning the bronze currency reforms undertaken
by Ptolemy IV and V. The first stage, initiated c.207-206 or a bit earlier, involved
75 AI series, 1 specimen (Svor. 1125 k). In this instance, the significance of the countermark is
unclear.
76 AI series, 1 specimen as Svor. 1127 (A. Philippidis coll., Hicksville, NY); IE monogram series,
1 specimen as Svor. 993 (Egyptian lot in US commerce, September 1997).
77 2E series, 2 specimens (Svor. 9947 and e); IE series, 4 specimens (Svor. 1151a, SNG Cop. 215,
Egyptian lot in US commerce in September 1997, and formerly J. Bergman collection, Lakewood,
California, last with incuse cornucopia).
78 Hazzard, Ptolemaic Coins, pp. 65-7.
79 Price, Sacred Animal Necropolis, p. 160. Specifically, Price opined that the type might mark a
double unit.
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HYPOTHESIS B
diobol. If the monetary weight is assumed to have the same vertical die axi
Ptolemaic coins, the numeral on the obverse is M (= 40). It follows that one
was equivalent to 20 of the new drachms, and thus to the deben, a standard
etary unit of demotic texts. Since six obols equalled a drachm on the silver s
dard, the ratio of new to old bronze drachms would be 120: 1. Although Hazz
himself did not make this extrapolation, his hypothesis implies that the largeAmmon coin was valued as an obol on the silver standard, 20 drachms on the
81 See n. 30 above.
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wheat prices for the 190s ranged from 150 to 180 drachms per
the period 193/2-1 88/7.85 Their ratio makes these early second century wheat
prices equivalent to 2 silver drachms, half the penalty price of the mid-third century and thus approximately the mean price for the period.86 The traditional papy-
rologists' ratio of 60: 1 yields wheat prices of 2.5 to 3 silver drachms, equalling
the highest prices recorded in the chora for the baseline period.
The different face values implied by hypotheses A and B will produce starkly
contrasting results in most other analyses. According to hypothesis A, the known
portion of the 'Coinex' hoard would have been worth 14,900 drachms (more than
two talents) on the new system of reckoning, or 149 original bronze drachms.
This puts it in the same general range as some large third-century hoards, notably
the (intact) Anubieion hoard (CH 5, 37 = CH 8, 310) and the (incomplete) Getty
hoard (CH 6, 30), whose contents have been estimated at 134 and 115 drachms
respectively.87 RW. Pestman has calculated that an adult could survive on ten
artabai of wheat a year.88 Using the high wheat price of 180 drachms per artaba,
we see that a bare subsistence required 1800 drachms per year. Even if that figure is doubled to allow for other foods, housing, and some comforts, hypothesis
A leads to the conclusion that the 'Coinex' hoarder had set aside a sum that could
Hypothesis B greatly reduces the value of the known portion of the 'Coinex'
hoard, to only 2980 of the new drachms, or 24 drachms 5 obols on the silver stan-
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PLATE 2
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PLATE 3
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PLATE 14
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