EGYPT. Alexandria. Hadrian, 117-138. Obol (Bronze, 18 mm, 5.88 g, 12 h), Saite nome, RY 11 = 126/7. ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ ΤΡΑΙ ΑΔΡΙΑ CЄΒ Laureate head of Hadrian to right, with slight drapery on his left shoulder. Rev. CAIT / L ΙΑ Athena-Neith standing front, head to left, holding owl in her right hand and spear in her left. Dattari (Savio) 11119 = RPC III online 6417.20 (this coin). Emmett 1219.11. K&G N45.13. Rare. Struck slightly off center, otherwise, very fine.


This coin forms part of the 'nome coinage', struck under several emperors starting from Domitian and ending with Antoninus Pius. The division of Egypt into nomes (smaller districts) had its roots in the pharaonic administration, but continued to be used in the Graeco-Roman period. On the reverse of the obols struck by Hadrian (probably for the emperor's decennalia), the respective nomes are identified through the legend and a local deity is depicted.

The present coin shows Neith, identified by the Greeks as Athena, the tutelary goddess of Sais, the capital of the Saite nome. Sais rose to great prominence in the Third Intermediate Period under the Twenty-Fourth Dynasty (727-715 BC), and served as the Egyptian capital under the Twenty-Sixth Dynasty (664-525 BC). Neith was worshipped as a war goddess; in this regard she was often depicted in Egyptian art holding a bow and arrows, and she was the protectress of Lower Egypt. She was also a goddess of magic and medicine (the Egyptians made little distinction between the two) and the mother of the crocodile god Sobek.