PTOLEMAIC KINGS OF EGYPT. Arsinoe II, wife of Ptolemy II, died 270 BC. Mnaeion or Oktadrachm (Gold, 28 mm, 27.69 g, 12 h), Alexandria, struck under Ptolemy VI-VIII, circa 180-116. Veiled head of Arsinoe II to right, wearing stephane and ram’s horn and with a lotos-tipped scepter over her left shoulder; behind, K. Rev. ΑΡΣΙΝΟΗΣ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΟΥ Double cornucopiae bound with fillet and with two grape bunches hanging at sides. Dewing 2762. Gulbenkian 1080-1082. SNG Copenhagen 321-322. Svoronos 1242, 1374 and 1498-9. Fresh, sharp and very attractive. Light die rust on the obverse and with a tiny nick on the reverse edge, otherwise, virtually as struck.


A minor detail of these impressive gold coins is the ram's horn, which is hinted at below Arsinoe's ear. It has been suggested that it refers to Arsinoe's association with the ram-god Mendes, as we find it on the Mendes-Stele, where Ptolemy II decrees that a statue of his deceased sister-wife would appear with that of the god in every Egyptian nome. However, the iconography of the Ptolemaic gold coinage was mainly targeting a Graeco-Macedonian audience, which argues for an identification of the ram's horn with that of Zeus Ammon, a reference to Alexander the Great, who had established Macedonian rule in Egypt.