ELEPHANTS, HISTORICAL 177 



FOREIGN GOLD, SILVER, AND COPPER — Continued 



Ceylon, 1802. Copper. Obverse. 



Ceylon, 1812. Copper. Obverse. 



Siam. Three-pagoda-piece. Gold. Obverse. 



Siam. One Tieal. Silver. 



Coventry, 1792. HaK-penny. Reverse, elephant and castle (arms of 



Coventry). 

 God Preserve New England, 1694. By Bolen. 

 God Preserve CaroKna and the Lords Proprietors, 1694. Struck from 



Bolen's dies. 



A coin bearing the name "Alexander," possibly referring 

 to Alexander II of Epirus (began to reign in 272 B. C), son 

 of Pyrrhus, shows a head bearing the scalp, tusks, and a part 

 of the trunk of an elephant as a headcovering.* Of Anti- 

 ochus Epiphanes, King of Syria (reigned 85 B. C), we have 

 a coin with a torch-bearing elephant (lychnophoros) on the 

 reverse, t 



On the reverse of several ancient coins appear represen- 

 tations of the god Bacchus, seated in a chariot drawn by four 

 elephants, and in one instance Minerva is depicted in a 

 similar way, but the only instance known to us where Venus 

 so appears is furnished by a Pompeian fresco recently dis- 

 covered by. Professor Spinazzola on the wall of a house on 

 the ''Street of Abundance." Apart from the unusual 

 character of this picture, it has very high artistic merit and 

 was evidently greatly prized by the owner of the house as 

 it was provided with glass covers to protect it from in- 

 jury. 



There is from Egypt a coin of one of the many Cleopatras, 

 in this case probably the daughter of Ptolemy Philometor, 

 by his sister, who also bore the name Cleopatra. The head 



*0p. cit., p. 50. 

 tOp. cit., p. 74. 



