46 



EECEEATIVE SCIENCE. 



much, as in founding tlie city, wMcli lie named 

 Alexandria, the Macedonian prince had evi- 

 dently intended it to form the metropolis 

 of his vast empire ; for which purpose its 

 situation at the junction of Asia and Africa, 

 and its power to command the south and 

 east of Europe by fleets issuing from the 

 great naval nursery of the Nile, rendered it 

 admirably fitted. In that city, therefore, as 

 a last token of respect to its great founder, 

 Ptolemy proposed that his remains should 

 be deposited, rather than at ^JEgas, the ancient 

 burial-place of his ancestors in Macedonia. 



The ulterior views of Ptolemy ia obtaining 

 possession of the remains of Alexander were 

 probably not perceived by Archidseus, who 

 ■ had been charged with the direction of the 

 obsequies, and no opposition was made to 

 the demand of the ruler of Egypt. Archi- 

 dseus, and those in power in Asia, were pos- 

 sibly rejoiced at being rid of the expense 

 and responsibility of superintending the obse- 

 quies of their great leader, and the imperial 

 remains were, therefore, transferred to Alex- 

 andria, where the obsequies were performed, 

 under the auspices of Ptolemy, with extraor- 

 dinary splendour. 



We learn from Callixines, of Ehodes, in a 

 passage preserved by Athenseus, that the 

 great procession was closed by a magnificent 

 car, drawn by elephants, in 

 which was placed a golden 

 statue of Alexander. This 

 car, the elephants, and the 

 golden statue of the con- 

 queror are accurately repre- 

 sented in the coin engraved above, one of 

 those which were struck by order of Ptolemy 

 to commemorate the event. The figure of 

 Alexander is represented holding a fulmen, 

 or thunderbolt, either in token of his dei- 

 fication after death, or in allusion to the 

 descent from Jupiter Ammon, to which he 

 had laid claim. It was most probably in the 

 latter signification, as the deification would 

 only have taken place after his death, whereas 



he had been represented in the same manner 

 duriag his life-time, especially in the famous 

 picture in the Temple of Diana at Ephe- 

 sus, to which M. Longperrier alludes in 

 his instructive essay on the Ptolemaic coin- 

 age. The inscription above the car is 

 "nxOAEMAIOT BSAIAEnS" ("of the King 

 Ptolemy"), meaning money of the King 

 Ptolemy, for he had already assumed the 

 regal title, and that is the usual form of in- 

 scription on the money of all sovereigns of 

 that epoch. On the obverse is the portrait 

 of Ptolemy, without any inscription. The 

 head is very fine, and represents the king ia 

 the flower of his age, the features, however, 

 showing a striking resemblance to those of 

 the monetary portraits found on coins issued 

 at the close of his long reign, when he is 

 represented as at an advanced age. I merely 

 mention this fact to show that the portraits 

 of princes on ancient coins of that compara- 

 tively remote period, were evidently executed 

 with great care and accuracy, and that a 

 most interesting portrait-gallery of historical 

 characters has thus been preserved on coins 

 when every other record of their form and 

 feature has been swept away. The gold 

 coins struck to commemorate the obsequies 

 of Alexandei' appear to have been of unusual 

 weight, the one from which the above 

 engraving is made is apparently a hemi- 

 stater, but weighing 109|- grains, while to 

 the attic standard, to which the famous gold 

 coinage of Philip of Macedon was adjusted, 

 only 66 grains were assigned to the half 

 stater. It is true that the Greek sovereigns of 

 Egjrpt, in order to acquire popularity, and a 

 reputation of great wealth, issued gold money 

 of the ancient Macedonian standard, which 

 was much heavier than the Athenian, and it 

 might be supposed that the present coin was 

 of that standard; but it is, in fact, still 

 heavier, and was, doubtless, issued of such 

 great additional weight in honour of the 

 special occasion to which its device refers. 

 No other consecrative coin of this kind 



