EGYPT. Alexandria. Antoninus Pius, 138-161. Drachm (Bronze, 32 mm, 18.60 g, 12 h), RY 5 = 141/2. [ΑΥΤ Κ Τ ΑΙ]Λ ΑΔΡ [ΑΝΤⲰΝΙΝΟϹ ЄΥϹЄΒ] Laureate head of Antoninus Pius to right. Rev. [L Є] Reaper standing right, cutting three stalks of grain with sickle held in his right hand while holding grain with his left. Dattari (Savio) 2989. Emmett 1643.5. K&G 35.165. RPC IV.4 online 14838. Very rare. Somewhat rough, otherwise, fair.


Antoninus Pius' reign saw a prodigious output of Egyptian drachms with a richness in reverse types unparalleled in the Alexandrian series. Among the more unusual types is certainly this one, which shows a reaper harvesting grain. Of course, Egypt was one of the Mediterranean's primary bread baskets during Antiquity, and every year, enormous quantities of grain were shipped to Rome in order to feed the capital and support the grain dole.

On a deeper level, however, the reaper appears to be connected to another reverse type used in the same year, showing a ploughman driving a pair of oxen (see also Dattari (Savio) 6546, a lead tessera explicitly linking the two types). Coins showing Nilus were also struck in year 5 (though they are rare, like the other two types), and when we take the three reverse types together, they appear to symbolize the three great Egyptian seasons, Akhet (inundation), Peret (sowing) and Shemu (harvest), which were determined by the rhythm of the Nile flood. If this is so, the reaper certainly represents the latter season, which took place in late spring-midsummer.