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DOI article:Olbrycht, Marek Jan: On coin portraits of Alexander the Great and his Iranian Regalia: some remarks ocassioned by the book by F. Smith: L'immagine di Alessandro il Grande sulle monete del regno, (336 - 323 a. C.)
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22229#0016
MAREK JAN OLBRYCHT
H.A. Troxell to Mithradates I of Kommagene (lst century BC)4. It was only M.J.
Price who correctly identified the depiction, coiwincingly arguing for linking the
coins with Alexander the Great. Three bronzes of the type come from archeological
research at Saqqara, Egypt (now kept at the British Museum)5. They bear a letter A
on the reverse which should be interpreted as the initial for Alexander.
Smith compares the coin portrait on the Memphis issue with Alexander’s like-
ness on the so-called “Poroś issues”. She rightly notes the common element - pe-
culiar headgear. Yet on the “Poroś issues”, the “helmef ’ has a crest and feathers. As
these are missing from the Memphis issues, Smith interprets the king’s headgear
on Egyptian coins as “un casco semplice che richiama il generale vittorioso” (p. 9).
Again, let us emphasize that we are really dealing with an Iranian tiara with a dia-
dem, not a helmet. Since Alexander introduced Iranian insignia of authority in 330
BC, we should reconsider whether the Memphis bronzes were struck during his stay
in Egypt (332/331 BC), as M.J. Price and Smith suggest, or rather after 330 BC.
Following Price’s hypothesis, Smith treats the likeness on Alexander’s coins
from Naukratis also as a portrait of the king (the bronzes feature the king’s abbrevi-
ated name as AAE, p. 9ff). The figure’s undulating hair (the discussed Naukratis
issues show no tiara) is reminiscent of the hair of a figurę on a fresco at Casa dei
Vettii in Pompeii, where the likeness is often taken to be that of Alexander-Zeus.
Smith makes the valid supposition that the coin portrait could have been styled
after a sculpture of Alexander Ktistes erected in Egyptian Alexandria (reported by
Ps.-Kallisthenes) and executed probably by Lysippos. Another notable figurę was
discovered at Begram, Afghanistan (Caucasian Alexandria?), which is perhaps
a copy of the Alexander Ktistes sculpture of Egyptian Alexandria6.
Only briefly does Smith mention an interesting iconographic element featured
on sonie issues from Alexander’s time - which is a symbolic tiaraed head. The au-
thor remarks in passing that the head resembles a portrait of Alexander (p. 10). This
question is worth dwelling on. Important here is a study by M. Thompson on Alex-
ander’s mints in Asia Minor (Smith does not quote that work). Among Alexander’s
coins linked with the Sardes mint are gold and silver pieces (staters, tetradrachms,
drachms) bearing on the reverse a head in an upright tiara as a symbol. In Thomp-
son^ classification those are series VIII and X coins, dated respectively at 330-325
4 H. A. TROXELL, “Greek Accessions: Asia Minor to India”, American Numismatic Society Museum Notes 22,
1977, p. 23; EADEM, “Orontes, Satrap of Mysia”, Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau 60, 1981, pp. 27-37.
5 M. J. PRiCE, “Appendix J, ‘The Coins’”, [in:] G. T. MARTIN, The Sacred Animal Necropolis at
N. Saqqara, London 1981, pp. 162-163, nos. 173-175; IDEM, The Coinage in theName of Alexander andPhilipp
Arrhidaeus, vol. I-II, Zurich/London 1991, p. 496, no. 3960.
6 P. GOUKOWSKY, Essai sur les origines du mythe d’Alexandre, I, Nancy 1978, pp. 213-214; M. J. OLBRYCHT,
Aleksander Wielki i świat irański [Alexander the Great and the Iranian world], Rzeszów 2004, il. 1.2.A.
H.A. Troxell to Mithradates I of Kommagene (lst century BC)4. It was only M.J.
Price who correctly identified the depiction, coiwincingly arguing for linking the
coins with Alexander the Great. Three bronzes of the type come from archeological
research at Saqqara, Egypt (now kept at the British Museum)5. They bear a letter A
on the reverse which should be interpreted as the initial for Alexander.
Smith compares the coin portrait on the Memphis issue with Alexander’s like-
ness on the so-called “Poroś issues”. She rightly notes the common element - pe-
culiar headgear. Yet on the “Poroś issues”, the “helmef ’ has a crest and feathers. As
these are missing from the Memphis issues, Smith interprets the king’s headgear
on Egyptian coins as “un casco semplice che richiama il generale vittorioso” (p. 9).
Again, let us emphasize that we are really dealing with an Iranian tiara with a dia-
dem, not a helmet. Since Alexander introduced Iranian insignia of authority in 330
BC, we should reconsider whether the Memphis bronzes were struck during his stay
in Egypt (332/331 BC), as M.J. Price and Smith suggest, or rather after 330 BC.
Following Price’s hypothesis, Smith treats the likeness on Alexander’s coins
from Naukratis also as a portrait of the king (the bronzes feature the king’s abbrevi-
ated name as AAE, p. 9ff). The figure’s undulating hair (the discussed Naukratis
issues show no tiara) is reminiscent of the hair of a figurę on a fresco at Casa dei
Vettii in Pompeii, where the likeness is often taken to be that of Alexander-Zeus.
Smith makes the valid supposition that the coin portrait could have been styled
after a sculpture of Alexander Ktistes erected in Egyptian Alexandria (reported by
Ps.-Kallisthenes) and executed probably by Lysippos. Another notable figurę was
discovered at Begram, Afghanistan (Caucasian Alexandria?), which is perhaps
a copy of the Alexander Ktistes sculpture of Egyptian Alexandria6.
Only briefly does Smith mention an interesting iconographic element featured
on sonie issues from Alexander’s time - which is a symbolic tiaraed head. The au-
thor remarks in passing that the head resembles a portrait of Alexander (p. 10). This
question is worth dwelling on. Important here is a study by M. Thompson on Alex-
ander’s mints in Asia Minor (Smith does not quote that work). Among Alexander’s
coins linked with the Sardes mint are gold and silver pieces (staters, tetradrachms,
drachms) bearing on the reverse a head in an upright tiara as a symbol. In Thomp-
son^ classification those are series VIII and X coins, dated respectively at 330-325
4 H. A. TROXELL, “Greek Accessions: Asia Minor to India”, American Numismatic Society Museum Notes 22,
1977, p. 23; EADEM, “Orontes, Satrap of Mysia”, Schweizerische Numismatische Rundschau 60, 1981, pp. 27-37.
5 M. J. PRiCE, “Appendix J, ‘The Coins’”, [in:] G. T. MARTIN, The Sacred Animal Necropolis at
N. Saqqara, London 1981, pp. 162-163, nos. 173-175; IDEM, The Coinage in theName of Alexander andPhilipp
Arrhidaeus, vol. I-II, Zurich/London 1991, p. 496, no. 3960.
6 P. GOUKOWSKY, Essai sur les origines du mythe d’Alexandre, I, Nancy 1978, pp. 213-214; M. J. OLBRYCHT,
Aleksander Wielki i świat irański [Alexander the Great and the Iranian world], Rzeszów 2004, il. 1.2.A.