Ancient Egypt, Ptolemaic Bronze Coin pendant - Pharaoh Ptolemy VI (No reserve price)

Silver pendant with a 2nd-century BC coin of Pharaoh Ptolemy VI, guardian of Egypt’s last period of splendor as a Mediterranean power.

It all began in 180 BC, when his father, Ptolemy V, died. From that moment on, six-year-old Ptolemy VI attended audiences beside his mother, the extraordinary Cleopatra I Syra, looking to her for approval. Then, in 176 BC, she died, and Greek advisers took him under their wing and “suggested” he take a firm line against Syria, among other things…

For example, between 175 and 173 BC, he married his sister Cleopatra II, and they formed an outstanding government with his younger brother, Ptolemy VIII “the Potbelly,” whom a courtier convinced that his older brother wanted to poison him. When Ptolemy VI found out, he walked unarmed up to him and embraced him in front of the servants.

And since Egypt was a country of a Greek elite and an Egyptian populace, he used the bronze chalkon on this pendant as an unbeatable tool for social peace: the Greeks saw Zeus, god of Olympus, in it, while the Egyptians saw Amun-Ra, king of the Theban gods and protector of the pharaoh. Take a look:

➤ on the obverse: facing right, the head of the god Zeus Amun-Ra, with a beard, long, thick, curly hair topped with a diadem, and ram’s horns curling around his ears;

➤ in the center of both sides, the dimple left by the lathe used to prepare the bronze disk before it was struck with the die;

➤ on the reverse: Facing left, two majestic eagles stand upright on a thunderbolt, wings closed, before a cornucopia. On the right edge, vertically: ΠTOΛEMAIOΥ BAΣIΛEΩΣ (“Of King Ptolemy”).

A coin that could buy you a little salted fish, a drink of beer, and so on. Every payment was a reminder that Ptolemy VI, the great Macedonian warrior with his aristocratic nose, large eyes, short curly hair, and long sideburns, ruled under the authority of the gods. It was minted between 180 and 145 BC at the Alexandria mint.

By the way, that chocolate-brown color is the patina left by the passage of some 2,000 years.

Because, of course, a shared government with a paranoid, ambitious brother, threats from the Seleucid Empire and the Roman Republic—which didn’t want a Ptolemy to have sole control over Egypt’s wealth, as that would cause problems… Just look:

◉ 170–168 BC – The Seleucid king Antiochus IV Epiphanes takes Ptolemy VI prisoner for having invaded Coele-Syria, but the Roman ambassador, the illustrious Gaius Popillius Laenas, saves Ptolemy VI;

◉ 164 BC – Ptolemy VIII expelled Ptolemy VI, who arrived in Rome dressed like a beggar, making the Roman senators feel ashamed and securing their support to regain Egypt and Cyprus;

◉ 163 BC – Since Ptolemy VIII was unhappy that Rome had assigned him Cyrenaica (Libya) and tried to invade Cyprus, Ptolemy VI defeated him, but spared his life, promised him his eldest daughter in marriage, and gave Cyrenaica back to him.

Even so, he had time to:

- have the architectural plan of the majestic Temple of Kom Ombo duplicated, so that the crocodile god Sobek and the falcon god Horus the Elder could be worshipped equally;

- compel the cultivation of abandoned state lands to revive the economy: “Agricultural Laws,” 165 BC;

- promote trade between India and Alexandria, as well as the exceptional scientific legacy of the Museum and Library of Alexandria.

Until, in 145 BC, during the battle against Alexander Balas, on the Oenoparas River, the latter’s imposing war elephant frightened Ptolemy VI’s horse. He fell and struck his head on a stone, dying on the operating table four days later, going down in history as the first patient with a traumatic injury to be treated in the field.

“None of his friends were executed by him, and no one in Alexandria died because of him.”

— Diodorus Siculus (Library of History).

A timelessly designed pendant that lets you share in the sumptuous world of Egypt and naturally draws people to you, starting a meaningful conversation with you—something that’s hard to achieve with contemporary jewelry.

Disclaimer: I will send this item to you from Spain by registered mail with a tracking number. If it reaches you in a region with a special tax regime, your local customs office may hold it until you pay a fee, and as the seller, this is beyond my control.