Naville Numismatics Ltd.
Auction 33 16 Jul 2017
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Egypt, Alexandria. Dattari. Trajan, 98-117 Drachm circa 108-109 (year 12), Æ 34mm., 23.50g. Laureate bust r., wearing aegis on l. shoulder. Rev. Nymphaeum, surmounted by eagle, with four columns, enclosing figure of Zeus (?) standing facing in centre and two other figures; below three waterspouts . In field, L-IB. RPC 4317.2.3 (this coin). Dattari-Savio Pl. 54, 7224 (this coin).
Rare. Attractive brown tone, Good Very Fine.
From the Dattari collection.
The fountain of Trajan is depicted in a series of Alexandrian coins on a specific occasion that is the twelfth year of the reign of the Emperor ( 108-109 A.D). On the reverse, the coin has a fountain-nymphaeum surmounted by eagle consisting of a rectangular base used as the water tank, lined with two Ionic pillars, on which are applied three foreheads of a lion as watersprouts. Above it stands a portico supported by four columns of the Corinthian order, in the intercolumns are inserted three statues of goddesses: in the centre, a Zeus of Roman type of Jupiter Stator supporting a sceptre with his left arm and extending the right hand that seems to hold a bundle of thunderbolts. While the statues of two female figures that appear in the intercolumns of the colonnade porch above the base, recall the famous Alexandrian triad composed of Isis-Demeter, Zeus Serapis and Isis-Persephone, the naked male figure replaces with the same role the Greek Zeus Serapis with the Roman Jupiter Stator, in the name of the religious syncretism that was common in the culture and the Graeco-Roman-Egyptian world.
Rare. Attractive brown tone, Good Very Fine.
From the Dattari collection.
The fountain of Trajan is depicted in a series of Alexandrian coins on a specific occasion that is the twelfth year of the reign of the Emperor ( 108-109 A.D). On the reverse, the coin has a fountain-nymphaeum surmounted by eagle consisting of a rectangular base used as the water tank, lined with two Ionic pillars, on which are applied three foreheads of a lion as watersprouts. Above it stands a portico supported by four columns of the Corinthian order, in the intercolumns are inserted three statues of goddesses: in the centre, a Zeus of Roman type of Jupiter Stator supporting a sceptre with his left arm and extending the right hand that seems to hold a bundle of thunderbolts. While the statues of two female figures that appear in the intercolumns of the colonnade porch above the base, recall the famous Alexandrian triad composed of Isis-Demeter, Zeus Serapis and Isis-Persephone, the naked male figure replaces with the same role the Greek Zeus Serapis with the Roman Jupiter Stator, in the name of the religious syncretism that was common in the culture and the Graeco-Roman-Egyptian world.