Queen Arsinoe II Octodrachm

The Queen Arsinoe II Octodrachm is a Ptolemaic eight-drachma gold coin portraying Queen Arsinoë II, currently located at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Historical background
The Ptolemaic kingdom of Egypt was formed after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE. His empire was divided among his four generals, one being Ptolemy, who took control of Egypt and governed it until 305 BCE, when he became its king. Building an empire from the capital of Alexandria, Ptolemy conquered regions of Palestine, Phoenicia, and Cyprus. As a Hellenistic kingdom, Ptolemaic Egypt was a center of flourishing learning and scholarship and was home to the famed Library of Alexandria. It was during this illuminating reign of knowledge that the world was given the first Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible. This marked the end of the dynastic reigns of the Egyptian pharaohs; its last pharaoh was the famed Cleopatra VII.
Octodrachm Portraying Queen Arsinoë II
Arsinoë II
Arsinoë was born in 316 BCE and was the only daughter of Ptolemy I and his wife fourth wife Berenice I. At the age of 16 Arsinoë married Lysimachus, a 45-year-old military leader from the Greek province of Thrace. From 298 to 293 BCE she bore him three sons: Ptolemy, Lysimachus, and Philip. In 285 BCE Ptolemy I claimed his son Ptolemy II as co-ruler alongside him and upon Ptolemy I's death, his son would succeed him as king. Her brother being so close to the Egyptian throne elevated Arsinoë's status in Thrace, even placing her above her stepson and Lysimachus' heir Agathocles. The word octodrachm means that the coin weighed eight drachms, a unit of weight used in ancient Greece. On one side it portrays the image of Queen Arsinoë II, the sister and second wife of Ptolemy II Philadelphus. It was a Ptolemaic tradition for sisters to marry their ruling brothers so as to keep the dynastic blood line pure. The coin was minted in the capital of Alexandria. It was issued sometime after 270 BCE after Arisinoë’s death and used as a funerary coin to honor her life and death as a consort to the pharaoh. It was issued by Ptolemy II or Ptolemy III, her nephew and stepson. Coins were not standard issue in Egypt as a form of currency until the Greco-Roman period, beginning in 500 BCE. Coins were created very systematically during ancient times. Tools needed were heating blanks or “flans,” tongs for handling hot flans, a table or bench where an anvil was situated, and a pair of dies struck with a large hammer to press the design into the flan. Coin dies were the images pressed into the coin (deities, kings, seals, etc.). Dies were made of bronze or iron, the obverse die would be mounted to the anvil and the reversed die would be struck to the impression. As most every day Ptolemaic coins were minted from bronze, the fact that this coin of Arsinoë II is gold, means it was minted after her death for the specific purpose of celebrating her life and honoring her role as consort and queen of Ptolemy II.
Ownership History
The coin was donated to the Art Institute of Chicago in 1922 by Martin A. Ryerson. Ryerson was an entrepreneur and shrewd businessman who made his fortune in lumber trade, real estate, and banking. He was President of the Board of Trustees from 1892-1922 for the University of Chicago and was one of the founding trustees of the Art Institute. He gave extensively to the Art Institute from his private collection over the years, from paintings, sculptures, textiles, and prints. Ryerson frequently went abroad to add to his vast collection. He often traveled with his friend, Charles L. Hutchinson, president of the Art Institute’s Board of Trustees, and they attended galleries and auctions. Ryerson collected several key pieces of art during the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. The vast majority of Ryerson’s collection was given to the Art Institute after his death in 1933.
It is unknown how and when Ryerson obtained the coin depicting Queen Arsinoë II. He likely acquired it abroad or at an auction. It has spent most of its time at the Art Institute, though in 2004 it was loaned to the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston for the traveling exhibit 'Centaur’s Smile: The Human Animal in Early Greek Art.'<ref name=":2" /> The coin has been featured in several key academic publications for journals such as the Ancient World and featured in publications by institutions like Yale University.<ref name=":2" />
Further reading
* Alexander, Karen B. "From Plaster to Stone: Ancient Art at the Art Institute of Chicago." in Recasting the Past: Collecting and Presenting Antiquities at the Art Institute of Chicago, by Karen Manchester, (Art Institute of Chicago/Yale University Press, 2012), p. 29.
* Berge, Louise and Alexander, Karen. "Ancient Gold Work and Jewelry from Chicago Collections." (The Ancient World, 1985) Vol. 11, nos. 1 and 2, p. 22
* Casagrande-Kim, Roberta, ed. When the Greeks Ruled Egypt: From Alexander the Great to Cleopatra. Exh. cat. (Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University/Princeton University Press, 2014), p. 64, fig. 4-9, p. 93 (cat. 41).
* Lewis, Naphtali. Greeks in Ptolemaic Egypt: Case Studies in the Social History of the Hellenistic World. Vol. 2. N.p.: American Society of Papyrologists, 2001. Print. Classics in Papyrology.
* Von Redden, Sitta. Money in Ptolemaic Eygpt: From the Macedonian Conquest to the End of the Third Century BC. Cambridge: Cambridge University, 2008. Print.

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