Coinage in the Imperium of Mark Antony. Slides from a lecture given in London, Philadelphia and Calgary

1. Between Greece and Rome
Coinage in the
Imperium of Mark Antony
Andrew Meadows

2. Some recent books
2000: M. Chauveau, Egypt in the age of Cleopatra
2001: P. Higgs and S. Walker, Cleopatra of Egypt: From History to
Myth
J.E.G. Whitehorne, Cleopatras
2003: Francesca Royston, Becoming Cleopatra: The shifting
image of an icon
Sally-Ann Ashton, The Last Queens of Egypt: Cleopatra’s royal
house
2004: Michel Chauveau, Cleopatra: Beyond the Myth
Sally-Ann Ashton and Susan Walker, Cleopatra Reassessed

3. More recent books
2006: Prudence Jones, Cleopatra (Life and Times)
ead. Cleopatra: a sourcebook
Lucy Hughes-Hallett, Cleopatra: Queen, Lover, Legend
2007: Stanley Burstein, The Reign of Cleopatra
Pat Southern, Cleopatra
2008: Sally-Ann Ashton, Cleopatra and Egypt
Pat Southern, Antony and Cleopatra
2009: Diane Kleiner, Cleopatra and Rome

4. Yet more recent books
2010: Joyce Tyldesley, Cleopatra, last queen of Egypt. Stacy
Schiff, Cleopatra: a life.
Duane Roller: Cleopatra: a biography.
Z. Hawass and F. Goddio, Cleopatra: the search for the last
queen of Egypt
Adrian Goldsworthy, Antony and Cleopatra
2011: Joann Fletcher, Cleopatra the Great: the woman behind
the legend

5. Contemporary sources are few: a handful of
isolated documents from Egypt and Cyprus, a
few coins, and doubtfully attributed portrait
sculptures, and the odd snide comment from
Cicero. The first half of her life is a complete
blank, and our knowledge of her last years
largely depends on Plutarch's gossipy Life of
Antony, written more than a century after
Cleopatra's death.

6. Trying to conjure a meaningful narrative of
events (let alone a character portrait) out of this
wretched stuff is like trying to reconstruct the
life of Margaret Thatcher from a few Steve Bell
cartoons, tattered copies of The Times from May
1977 and December 1984, a hostile biography of
Ronald Reagan and the archaeology of
Grantham (TLS October 8, 2010, p. 13).

8. Civic Coinage
Athens, Aradus and Magnesia on the Maeander

9. Royal Coins
Ptolemy I of Egypt
Perseus of Macedon

10. Roman coinage
Mark Antony RRC 544 and 539 (32 and 36 BC)

11. Roman provincial coinage
Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust right; AY K MAΡ ΑΝΤ ΓΟΡΔΙΑΝΟC/
Cult statue of Aphrodite facing, veil supported by two Erotes; altar and
small nude figure at feet; ΦΑCΗΛΙΤΩΝ

12. Cleopatra
Silver tetradrachm, mint of Alexandria, year 4 (49/8 BC)
Diademed bust of Ptolemy I right/ Eagle left on thunderbolt; L Δ above
headdress of Isis to left, ΠA to right; ΒΑΣΙΛΕΩΣ ΠΤΟΛΕΜΑΙΟΥ

13. Cleopatra
Mint of Alexandria, 80 and 40 drachma bronze coins
Diademed and draped bust of Cleopatra r. / Eagle left on thunderbolt;
cornucopia before; Π or M behind; BAΣIΛIΣΣHΣ KΛEOΠATPAΣ

14. Cleopatra
Cypriot mint
Diademed bust of Cleopatra r., as Aphrodite, with Caesarion, as Eros, in
her arms; behind, sceptre / Two cornucopiae bound with fillet; to r.,
ΚΥΠΡ ligate; BAΣIΛIΣΣHΣ KΛEOΠATPAΣ

15. Damascus
RPC 4781, year SE 276 (37/6 BC).
Diademed and draped bust of Cleopatra right / Tyche seated left on rock
outcropping, extending hand and holding cornucopia; CΟΣ and
ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΩΝ

16. Orthosia
RPC 4501, civic era year 2 (36/5 BC)
Diademed and draped bust right/ Baal of Orthosia right in biga drawn by
griffins; B and ΟΡΘΩΣΙΕΩΝ.

17. Tripolis
RPC 4510, Cleopatra’s Phoenician regnal year 2 (36/5 BC).
Diademed and draped bust right / ΤΡΙΠΟΛΙΤΩΝ, Nike, holding wreath in
her right hand, palm in left, standing on prow right; LB to right.

18. Βerytus
RPC 4530 Cleopatra’s Phoenician year 6 and Egyptian year 21 (32/1 BC) .
Diademed and draped bust right, wearing earring and necklace / Baal of
Berytos, holding aphlaston and trident, in quadriga of hippocamps right;
BH, LZ and LAK

19. Βerytus
RPC 4529 Cleopatra’s Phoenician year 2 (32/1 BC) .
Diademed bust r., wearing earring and necklace; LB ΘΑ / Baal of Berytos,
holding trident, in quadriga of hippocamps r.; BH, ΔΙΟ

20. Ptolemais
RPC 4741-2, Phoenician year 3 and Caesarian year 15 (35/4 BC)
Bare head of Antony r. wreath/diademed head of Cleopatra r.;
ΠΤΟΕΛΜΑΕΩΝ ΙΕΡΑC ΑCΥΛΟΥ or ΠΤΟΕΛΜΑΕΩΝ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ and date

21. Orthosia
RPC 4502, civic era year 3 (35/4 BC)
Diademed and draped bust right/ Baal of Orthosia right in biga drawn by
griffins; Γ and ΟΡΘΩΣΙΕΩΝ.

22. Damascus
RPC 4783, Year SE 280 (33/2 BC).
Diademed and draped bust of Cleopatra right / Tyche seated left on rock
outcropping, extending hand and holding cornucopia; LΠΣ and
ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΩΝ

23. Patras
RPC 1245. Undated.
Diademed and draped bust of Cleopatra to right, her hair in a bun at the
back; ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΑ ΚΛΕΟΠΑΤΡΑ/Crown of Isis; ΑΓΙΑC ΛΥCΩΝΟC ΠΑΤΡΕΩΝ

26. Tripolis
RPC 4509, Pompeian Era 23 (42/41 BC).
Bare head of Mark Antony right / Draped bust of Fulvia right; date to left.

27. Ptolemais
RPC I 4740.6 (this coin), civic era year 11 (39/38 BC)
Bare head right within laurel wreath / Tyche left on prow of galley,
holding aplustre and rudder in r. and cornucopia and palm in l.; L IA/ KAI
AC, ΠΤΟΕΛΜΑΕΩΝ ΙΕΡΑC,

28. Aradus
RPC 4466, civic era year 222 (38/7 BC)
Bare head of Antony right / Bull galloping left; CWM above; CKB and M ΔΙ
below

29. Balanea
RPC 4456.5 (this coin), undated?
Bare head right / Uncertain deity driving quadriga left.

30. Aradus
RPC 4467, civic era year 224 (36/5 BC)
Bare head of Antony right / Bull galloping left; CKΔ above, MH below.

31. Ptolemais
RPC 4741-2, Phoencian year 3 and Caesarian year 15 (35/4 BC)
Bare head of Antony r. in wreath/diademed head of Cleopatra r.;
ΠΤΟΕΛΜΑΕΩΝ ΙΕΡΑC ΑCΥΛΟΥ or ΠΤΟΕΛΜΑΕΩΝ ΤΟΥ ΚΑΙ and date

32. Dora
RPC 4752, Egyptian regnal (?) year 19 (34/3 BC)
Jugate busts of Antony and Cleopatra r./Tyche standing l. with palm
branch and caduceus; L ΘΙ ΔΩ

34. Tripolis
RPC 4509, Pompeian Era 23 (42/41 BC).
Bare head of Mark Antony right / Draped bust of Fulvia right; date to left.

35. Balanea
Three denominations: Antony; Tyche; radiate head

36. Damascus
RPC 4781, year SE 276 (37/6 BC).
Diademed and draped bust of Cleopatra right / Tyche seated left on rock
outcropping, extending hand and holding cornucopia; CΟΣ and
ΔΑΜΑΣΚΗΝΩΝ

37. Balanea
Three denominations: Antony; Tyche; radiate head

38. Julius Ceasar, 44 BC
RRC 480/2a

39. M. Antony and Octavian in 43 BC
RRC 488 and 490

41. Patras
RPC 1245. Undated.
Diademed and draped bust of Cleopatra to right, her hair in a bun at the
back; ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΑ ΚΛΕΟΠΑΤΡΑ/Crown of Isis; ΑΓΙΑC ΛΥCΩΝΟC ΠΑΤΡΕΩΝ

42. Zacynthos
RPC 1290.17 (this coin), undated
Head of Mark Antony r./C SOSIVS Q up left field, ZA in right, eagle
standing right on thunderbolt; to right, caduceus.

48. 8, 4, 1 herod