Artemide Aste s.r.l.
Auction 46E 23-24 Feb 2019
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Antoninus Pius (138-161). AE Drachm, Alexandria mint, Egypt. D/ Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right, seen from behind. R/ Isis seated right, suckling the child Horus (Harpocrates); around, L-ЄNΔЄK-ATOV (RY 11= 147-8 AD). Dattari 2651. K &G 35.405. AE. g. 32.82 mm. 35.00 Rare type for this regnal year. Brown patina. About VF.
Following Alexander's conquest of Egypt, the cult of Isis spread across the Mediterranean, with its popularity reaching its zenith in the Roman period, when the "goddess of a thousand names" became one of the Mediterranean's principal deities. It is generally recognized that the iconography of Isis nursing Harpokrates influenced Christian representations of the Madonna and Child, particularly the Virgo lactans type popular in Medieval Europe (Triton XXI, 134 note).
Following Alexander's conquest of Egypt, the cult of Isis spread across the Mediterranean, with its popularity reaching its zenith in the Roman period, when the "goddess of a thousand names" became one of the Mediterranean's principal deities. It is generally recognized that the iconography of Isis nursing Harpokrates influenced Christian representations of the Madonna and Child, particularly the Virgo lactans type popular in Medieval Europe (Triton XXI, 134 note).