EGYPT. Alexandria. Hadrian, 117-138. Drachm (Bronze, 34 mm, 23.69 g, 12 h), RY 19 = 134/5. AYT KAIC [T]PAIAN [AΔPIANOC CЄΒ] Laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Hadrian to right, seen from behind.
Rev. L ЄΝΝЄΑΚΔ Harpokrates of Herakleopolis standing front, head to left, raising his right hand to his mouth and holding club in his left; to left, altar. Dattari (Savio) 1728. Emmett 979.19. K&G 32.654. RPC III 6001. Two flan cracks
, otherwise, good fine.
From the Rhakotis Collection, formed in the 1960s and 1970s (with collector’s ticket).
This coin shows the particularly complex syncretism of the child-god Harpokrates, son of Isis and Osiris, and Herakles, which was based on the earlier conflation of Harpokrates with the Herakleopolite child-god Somtous, who in turn was identified as Herishef, the great ram-headed god of the Herakleopolite nome. Herishef, finally, was worshiped as Herakles by the Greeks, which allowed for the link between the Greek hero and the Egyptian child-god. The Herakleopolite Harpokrates can easily be identified through his attributes: he holds the club of Herakles and raises his hand to his mouth in the manner of Harpokrates, symbolizing the child hieroglyph.
