Detail View: The AMICA Library: Reverse: Eagle on thunderbolt

AMICA ID: 
AIC_.1922.4933
AMICA Library Year: 
1999
Object Type: 
Decorative Arts and Utilitarian Objects
Creator Name: 
Unknown
Creator Nationality: 
African; North African; Egyptian
Creator Dates/Places: 
Ancient Egypt Africa,North Africa,Egypt
Creator Name-CRT: 
Egyptian
Title: 
Coin Showing King Ptolemy I
Title Type: 
preferred
Title: 
Reverse: Eagle on thunderbolt
Title Type: 
alternate
View: 
obverse
Creation Date: 
Ptolemaic Period, 284-247 B.C.
Creation Start Date: 
-284
Creation End Date: 
-247
Materials and Techniques: 
Gold pentadrachm
Classification Term: 
Coin
Subject Description: 
Ptolemy II used the portrait of the funder of the dynasty, Ptolemy I, on his coin. On the obverse, the aegis (a magical garment) worn by Ptolemy I alluded to Zeus as well as Athena; it was thought to protect the wearer and repel enemies, and it underscored the divine origins of the dynasty. On the reverse the eagle and the thunderbolt also recall Zeus, with whom, in the form of Zeus-Ammon, the early Ptolemaic dynasty associated itself.
Creation Place: 
Asia,Middle East,Cyprus
Dimensions: 
Diameter: 2.4 cm (1 in.)
AMICA Contributor: 
The Art Institute of Chicago
Owner Location: 
Chicago, Illinois, USA
ID Number: 
1922.4933
Credit Line: 
The Art Institute of Chicago, Gift of Martin A. Ryerson
Rights: 
Related Image Identifier Link: 
AIC_.D12625.TIF