Egypt, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius, 138-161. Drachm (Bronze, 32.61 mm, 21.81 g). Dated RY 5 (= 141/2). [ΑΥΤ Κ Τ ΑΙΛ] ΑΔΡ ΑΝΤωΝΙΝ[ΟϹ ϹΕΒ ΕΥϹ] Laureate head right. Rev. Plowman, wearing pileus, driving team of oxen left; L Є (date) in exergue. Geissen 1407. Dattari-Savio 2985 (same dies). BMC 1091 (rev. only illustrated; same die). RPC IV.4, 526.10 (this coin cited). Emmett 1639. Rough brown patina. Near Very Fine. Very Rare.

Ex Roma Numismatics Ltd. 62, 17.10. 2019, lot 653.

The reverse of this special Antoninian drachm from the fifth year of his reign (141-142 AD) shows us through the image of the farmer tilling the land after the flooding of the Nile with the plough pulled by a pair of oxen, the representation of the first of the three productive seasons considered in Egypt. The second concerns sowing and is depicted by Triptolemus, the young man whom the goddess Demeter sends to scatter the seeds from a winged chariot that parades over the fields. (Cf. No. 415 of this collection). The third season is the subject of the next No. 380 of this collection.