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Art Institute of Chicago (Egyptian) · other

Tetradrachm (Coin) Portraying King Ptolemy I

Source of record: Art Institute of Chicago (Egyptian) — catalogued by the holding institution. View the original record →

Description

The Ptolemaic bloodline was running thin when Ptolemy XII bought his way onto the throne. His bribes, paid to Julius Caesar and other Roman generals, opened Egypt to Rome’s ambitions of empire. He was a weak leader, a drunkard, and no match for his Roman allies. At his death he insisted that his son share the rule with his sister, the legendary Queen Cleopatra VII, but she soon disposed of her brother in order to rule alone.

AI image analysis GPT-5.4-nano

Machine-generated from the object's image on Jul 2026. Not curatorial; treat deities, names, and signs below as the model's best reading, not authority.

A silver ancient coin showing a right-facing ruler on the obverse and a standing/jogged figure with Greek-style lettering on the reverse.

The image presents two views of a single silver coin: left (obverse) and right (reverse) against a neutral grey background. The obverse shows the head of a male ruler in profile facing right, with elaborate hair/diadem details and incised facial features. The reverse shows a standing male figure (appearing armored or with a cloak) with an elaborate headdress and an arm extended; surrounding the figure are tightly packed inscriptions rendered in a non-Egyptian script style that appears Greek-like. No clearly legible Egyptian hieroglyphs, cartouches, or Latin alphabet text are visible at this resolution. The coin edges are not emphasized beyond the circular rim; the overall condition appears good, with some wear and minor surface softness from circulation or striking.

royal Hellenistic (Ptolemaic period), likely early 3rd century BCE based on the catalogue assignment (exact date unclear from image alone). good
Royals Ptolemy I (catalogue ground truth; exact name not fully readable in the image)
Materials Silver (metallic coin surface)
Signs Greek-like inscription (partially legible)
Visible text "Greek-like inscription appears around the reverse figure; individual characters are not reliably legible from the provided image."

Connections

Royals Ptolemy ICleopatra VIIPtolemy XII

Cross-references (1)

  • ARTIC-id 139857 tier-2
About this record's data
  • From the source institution — accession, description, dimensions, and dating are as catalogued by Art Institute of Chicago (Egyptian).
  • AI-inferred — the image-analysis panel (deities, names, signs) is machine-generated and may be wrong.
  • Approximate location — most map points are plotted at the site centroid, not the exact findspot.
  • Inferred links — cross-references marked with a match method other than explicit-source-field were matched by us, not stated by the source.