PTOLEMY II Philadelphos Egypt 285BC Alexander the Great FACE Greek Coin i47177

Item: i47177

 Authentic Ancient

Coin of:

Greek

Ptolemy II Philadelphos
– King: 285-246 B.C. –

Bronze 17mm (3.89 grams) Tyre mint, circa 276-266 B.C.
Reference: Svoronos 638 var.; Weiser -; SNG Copenhagen 480 var.
Diademed head of Alexander the Great right.
ΠTOΛEMAIOY BAΣIΛEΩΣ, Eagle with open wings
standing left on thunderbolt; (date) and club before.

Son of Ptolemy I, he was made co-ruler by his father two years
before the latter’s death, thus ensuring a smooth succession. His long reign was
a period of growing prosperity for his kingdom, and the capital city of
Alexandria was embellished with many splendid new buildings – the Pharos, the
Museum and the Library being foremost. He was twice married: in circa 288 B.C.
to Arsinoe I, daughter of Lysimachos of Thrace; and about twelve years later to
his own sister, Arsinoe II.

You are bidding on the exact item pictured,

Authenticity.

In the
ancient Greek

religion
,
Zeus

zews



zooss
;

Ancient
 was the “Father of Gods and men” (πατὴρ
ἀνδρῶν τε θεῶν τε)
who ruled the Olympians of
Mount Olympus

as a father ruled the family. He was the
god of sky

and
thunder

in
Greek mythology
.
His
Roman

counterpart is
Jupiter

and
Etruscan

counterpart is Tinia
.

Zeus was the child of
Cronus

and
Rhea
,
and the youngest of his siblings. In most traditions he was married to

Hera, although, at the
oracle of Dodona
,
his consort was
Dione
:
according to the Iliad
,
he is the father of
Aphrodite

by Dione. He is known for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and
heroic offspring, including
Athena
,
Apollo

and Artemis
,
Hermes
,
Persephone

(by Demeter
),
Dionysus
,
Perseus
,
Heracles
,
Helen of Troy
,
Minos
,
and the Muses

(by Mnemosyne
);
by Hera, he is usually said to have fathered

Ares,
Hebe

and Hephaestus
.

As
Walter Burkert

points out in his book, Greek Religion, “Even the gods who are not his
natural children address him as Father, and all the gods rise in his presence.”
For the Greeks, he was the
King of the Gods
,
who oversaw the universe. As
Pausanias

observed, “That Zeus is king in heaven is a saying common to all men”. In
Hesiod’s Theogony

Zeus assigns the various gods their roles. In the
Homeric Hymns

he is referred to as the chieftain of the gods.

His symbols are the
thunderbolt
,
eagle
,
bull
,
and oak
.
In addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical “cloud-gatherer”
also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the
Ancient Near East
,
such as the
scepter
.
Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses: standing,
striding forward, with a thunderbolt leveled in his raised right hand, or seated
in majesty. 

Ptolemy II Philadelphus (Greek:

Πτολεμαῖος Φιλάδελφος,

Ptolemaĩos Philádelphos” 309 BC–246 BC), was the king of

Ptolemaic Egypt

from 283 BC to 246 BC. He was the son of the founder of the

Ptolemaic kingdom

Ptolemy I Soter

and

Berenice

, and was educated by

Philitas of Cos

. He had two half-brothers,

Ptolemy Keraunos

and

Meleager

, both of whom became kings of

Macedonia

(in 281 BC and 279 BC respectively). Both died in the Gallic

invasion of 280-279 BC (see

Brennus

).

As did the Ptolemy’s III through V, Ptolemy II erected a

commemmorative stele, the Great Mendes Stela.

//

 Reign

He began his reign as co-regent with his father

Ptolemy I

from ca. 290 BC–ca. 283 BCE, and maintained a splendid court in

Alexandria

.

Egypt was involved in several wars during his reign.

Magas of Cyrene

opened war on his half-brother (274 BC), and the

Seleucid

king

Antiochus I Soter

, desiring

Coele-Syria

with Judea
,

attacked soon after in the

First

Syrian War
. Two or three years of war followed. Egypt’s victories solidified

the kingdom’s position as the undisputed naval power of the eastern

Mediterranean; the Ptolemaic sphere of power extended over the

Cyclades
to

Samothrace
,

and the harbours and coast towns of

Cilicia Trachea

,

Pamphylia
,

Lycia
and

Caria
.

The victory won by

Antigonus II Gonatas

, king of Macedonia, over the Egyptian fleet at

Cos (between 258 BC

and 256 BC) did not long interrupt Ptolemy’s command of the

Aegean Sea
.

In a Second Syrian War

with the Seleucid kingdom, under

Antiochus II Theos

(after 260 BC), Ptolemy sustained losses on the seaboard

of

Asia Minor

and agreed to a peace by which Antiochus married his daughter

Berenice

(c. 250 BCE).

Ptolemy’s first wife,

Arsinoë I

, daughter of

Lysimachus
,

was the mother of his legitimate children. After her repudiation he married his

full sister

Arsinoë II

, the widow of

Lysimachus
—an

Egyptian custom—which brought him her Aegean possessions.

 Court

The material and literary splendour of the Alexandrian court

was at its height under Ptolemy II. Pomp and splendor flourished. Ptolemy

deified his parents and his sister-wife, after her death (270 BC). Ptolemy

staged a procession in Alexandria in honor of Dionysus led by 24 chariots drawn

by elephants and a procession of lions, leopards, panthers, camels, antelopes,

wild asses, ostriches, a bear, a giraffe and a rhinoceros. According to

scholars, most of the animals were in pairs – as many as eight pairs of

ostriches – and although the ordinary chariots were likely led by a single

elephant, others which carried a 7 foot tall golden statue may have been led by

four.

Callimachus

, keeper of the library,

Theocritus
,

and a host of lesser poets, glorified the

Ptolemaic family

. Ptolemy himself was eager to increase the library and to

patronize scientific research. He had exotic animals of far off lands sent to

Alexandria. Although an enthusiast for Hellenic culture, he also adopted

Egyptian religious concepts, which helped to bolster his image as a sovereign.

The tradition preserved in the

pseudepigraphical

Letter of Aristeas

which connects the

Septuagint

translation of the Old Testament into Greek with his patronage is probably

overdrawn. However, Walter Kaiser says, “There can be little doubt that the Law

was translated in Philadelphus’s time since Greek quotations from Genesis and

Exodus appear in Greek literature before 200 B.C. The language of the Septuagint

is more like Egyptian Greek than it is like Jerusalemite Greek, according to

some.”

Ptolemy had many brilliant mistresses, and his court, magnificent and dissolute,

intellectual and artificial, has been compared with the

Versailles

of

Louis XIV

.

Ptolemy was of a delicate constitution. Elias Joseph

Bickermann (Chronology of the Ancient World, 2nd ed. 1980) gives the date

of his death as January 29.

 Relations

with India

Ptolemy is recorded by

Pliny the Elder

as having sent an ambassador named

Dionysius

to the

Mauryan

court at

Pataliputra

in India

, probably to Emperor

Ashoka

:

“But [India] has been treated of by several other Greek

writers who resided at the courts of Indian kings, such, for instance, as

Megasthenes, and by Dionysius, who was sent thither by Philadelphus,

expressly for the purpose: all of whom have enlarged upon the power and vast

resources of these nations.” Pliny the Elder, “The Natural History”, Chap.

21

He is also mentioned in the

Edicts of Ashoka

as a recipient of the

Buddhist

proselytism of Ashoka, although no Western historical record of this event

remain.