Ptolemy II Philadelphos, 285–246 In the name of Arsinoe II. Octodrachm, Alexandria 253/2-246, AV 27mm, 27.78 g. Diademed and veiled head of the deified Arsinoe II right; in left field, Θ. Rev. ΑΡΣIΝΟΗΣ – ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΟΥ Double cornucopiae filled with fruit and bound with fillets. Svoronos 460 and pl. XV, 12. SNG Copenhagen 134. Troxell group III, p. 43 and pl. 6, 3.

Extremely fine. The veiled portrait of Arsinoe II, the sister-wife of King Ptolemy II, was iconic in the Hellenistic Age and set the standard for the presentation of later Ptolemaic women and many other monarchs who issued coins throughout the Mediterranean world. Soon after Arsinoe II died in July, 270 B.C., she was deified and a new cult was established in her honour as Thea Philadelphus ('brother-loving goddess'). Coins mainly of large denominations – usually gold octodrachms and silver decadrachms – were soon produced in her honour. The octodrachm, a mnaieion or one-mina piece apparently worth 100 silver drachms, continued to be struck under successive Ptolemaic kings for about 150 years or more. The portrait shows a noble woman of impeccable pedigree, the ideal of Greek womanhood. Her status as a queen is attested by her jeweled diadem and her divinity is confirmed by the lotus scepter at her shoulder and the ram's horn that curls behind her ear. The reverse is also devoted to the deified queen. The inscription APΣINOHΣ ΦIΛAΔEΛΦOY ("[coin] of Arsinoe, brother-lover") celebrates her sibling relationship with Ptolemy II, who issued this octodrachm. The double cornucopia is thought to be the queen's personal badge, yet in a larger sense it symbolized the idea that the Lagid rulers were the source of renewal, bounty and fertility.