Greek PTOLEMAIC KINGS of EGYPT. Ptolemy I Soter. As satrap, 323-305/4 BC, or king, 305/4-282 BC. AR Tetradrachm (25mm, 15.75 g, 1h). Ptolemaic standard. In the name of Alexander III of Macedon. Alexandreia mint. Struck circa 306-300 BC. Diademed head of the deified Alexander right, wearing elephant skin, aegis around neck with tiny Δ in scales / AΛEΞANΔPOY, Athena Alkidemos advancing right; to right, monogram, Corinthan helmet right, and eagle standing right on thunderbolt. CPE 70; Svoronos 164; Zervos Issue 29, dies 518/c; SNG Copenhagen –; Noeske –; SNG Lockett 3393; Weber 8226. Toned, traces of undertype. EF. Well centered. From the JTB Collection. Ex North River Collection (Triton XXVI, 10 January 2023), lot 424; RCM Collection (Triton XVI, 8 January 2013), lot 587; Triton VII (13 January 2004), lot 372./iPtolemy I Soter, the son of a Macedonian nobleman, was a friend and intimate of Alexander III the Great from boyhood and accompanied him on his great career of conquest, from 333-323 BC. Upon Alexander’s death in 323 BC, Ptolemy was granted the prized satrapy of Egypt, the richest of the formerly Persian provinces. Alone among the Diadochi (”successors”), he was content with his sphere of influence and did not risk all to succeed Alexander. However, he was not above using the great conqueror’s image and reputation to secure his own position. He hijacked Alexander’s funeral cortege as it was proceeding back to Macedon and had his embalmed corpse formally interred at Memphis in Egypt; later the body was relocated to a splendid mausoleum in Alexandria. Ptolemy’s early coinage is modeled on that of Alexander and carries the conqueror’s image and name, as seen on this remarkable tetradrachm, which shows Alexander wearing an elaborate elephant-skin headdress in honor of his victories in India, backed with a striking image of Athena in a fighting stance. Ptolemy declared his own kingship in 305/4 BC and was the only one of Alexander’s Successors to die peacefully, in his bed, in 282 BC, having founded a dynasty that would last three centuries. !--Silver--
