while the artistic
style changed over a couple centures *all* of the
Ptolemy head portraits on the series of tetradrachms for 200-300 yrs are identified by scholars as representing 'Ptolemy I'. essentially the ruler
portrait was 'fixed' over all that time, though you can indeed see differences between early and later renderings of the venerated founder of the empire. this gave the coinage a continuity of recognition over long periods of time. in a sense it's like the way
Alexander the Great and
Lysimachos and
Athens (Athena/owl) tetradrachms were issued and reissued (with some stylistic variations) for hundreds of years as recognizable
types.
likewise, on the
reverse of
Ptolemaic tetradrachms we almost always see a closed-wing
eagle facing left - and various letters or
monograms (occasionally other
symbols as well). in late 2nd to 1st C. BC some of these letters and
monograms indicate dates that have an L next to the Greek letter of the date (as on this coin) and/or
mint locations. because certain date ranges can be linked to certain rulers we can get a pretty
good idea which ruler issued certain of the later dated tetradrachms, but it is probably not the actual
portrait of that specific
king is on the
obverse; just a
stylized portrait of
Ptolemy I.
PtolemAE
