THE COIN COLLECTOR - World eBook Library

THE COLLECTOR SERIES
larly the earlier princes of the line with their consorts,
rank' first in point of importance and attraction. We
may specify the' gol3 oetadrachms and tetradrachms of
Ptolemy IU., and the gold oetadrachms of Berenice II.,
and Arsinoe. But the coins of the cities, especially of
Alexandria and of the Xomes of Egypt, offer an inex-
haustible variety of types, of historical, mythological,
and astronomical significance, which can only he treated
in a monograph. In the precious Alexandrian series
there is no limit to the diversity and utility. Akerman
long since pointed out two matters of detail which we
here reproduce : the custom of noting the date by the
letter L preceding the word one or other number,
whence comes to us the information, for instance, that
the visit of Hadrian to this city took place in the fif-
teenth year of his reign ; and again, the type of Isis
Faria, or Pharia, holding a sail, which, if stretched out-
ward, indicated vows offered up for a safe voyage, and
if inward, for a safe return. There is also the large
brass series belonging here, and rarely found in good
state, with reverses significant of local faiths and
cults.
Ethiopia possessed kings or other rulers who struck
money with Greek or Graeco-Coptic inscriptions as far
back as the fourth century B.C. ; but very little is known
of one or the other. There were early commercial rela-
tions between Egypt and the modern Abyssinia, which
rendered some currency essential ; and, as elsewhere,
the types were copies of Greek money by engravers
unacquainted with thai language; '
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the later pieces bear