100914 | ROMAN EMPIRE. Hadrian billon Tetradrachm.

100914 | ROMAN EMPIRE. Hadrian billon Tetradrachm. Struck in Alexandria in the province of Egypt, and dated RY 12 (CE 127/8). (24mm, 13.32 g, 11h).

 

AVT KAI TPAI AΔPIA CЄB, laureate, draped, and cuirassed bust right / L ΔωΔЄKATOV, Ptah-Hephaistos standing facing, head right, holding scepter and tongs.

 

RPC III 5712; Köln 981; Dattari (Savio) 1448; K&G 32.457. Choice Very Fine. Deep gray surfaces. A great portrait of Hadrian paired with a scarce representation of a god in the Romano-Egyptian pantheon.

 

In the syncretic blending of the Romano-Egyptian pantheon, Ptah-Hephaistos, scarcely featured on coinage, served as the god of craftsmen and architects—indicated on this piece by the tongs held in his hands.

 

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