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Author Topic: An Alexandrian Lead Tessera from Mareotes Nome  (Read 2507 times)

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Offline antoninus1

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An Alexandrian Lead Tessera from Mareotes Nome
« on: August 25, 2008, 04:02:32 pm »
Together with the Traian diobol I also bought this lead tessera which I am not able to find a reference for.
Neither am I able to identify the illustrated figure.

It shows a "person" directed to left and the greek letters MAP. I think that the letters stand or the Mareotes nome of Lower Egypt.
Concerning the person I am really unsure.
It seems to point with its right hand towards its mouth. Again Harpokrates?
But what is at the base of the figure?
An animal? Or has he a crocodile´s body?

The reverse is blank. Weight is 1,8 g, dimensions are 14 x 10 mm.

Has anyone any idea?

Offline iwaniw

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Re: An Alexandrian Lead Tessera from Mareotes Nome
« Reply #1 on: August 26, 2008, 06:42:14 pm »
antoninus1:

The type is Harpokrates or Horus holding a cornucopiae?. I think the figure to the left is perhaps a ram. I have an Artemis lead type and the deer on the coin is also very crude. Inscriptions on lead coins are hard to make out, even on the best preserved coins

On the lead tokens, often one sees a small standing  figure of Pan, or an altar in front of Harpokrates.

Finding an exact match for a lead token and even more so, a uniface item is like looking for a needle in a hay stack. That's not to say that one can not be found.

It's a very nice token.

Iwaniw

Offline antoninus1

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Re: An Alexandrian Lead Tessera from Mareotes Nome
« Reply #2 on: August 27, 2008, 03:32:54 pm »
iwaniw: thank you for your comments.

How do you mean that the  figure to the left is a ram? Do you mean the figure on the bottom at the feet of the standing figure (which I hold for Harpokrates)?
I think there are no cornucopiae. One hand is raised towards the mouth, the other is pointing downwards.

Offline iwaniw

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Re: An Alexandrian Lead Tessera from Mareotes Nome
« Reply #3 on: August 27, 2008, 07:28:55 pm »
Antoninus1:

The hair curl and finger to the mouth suggests Harpokrates/Horus. I thought the "X" to the right was a stylized cornucopiae, extending down to the arm pointing down.

On second thought, the small figure at his feet might be a vase?

There was a Harpokrates of Canopus lead issue auctioned by Stacks in January 2008 (along with other lead tokens), which you might want to search for.

Iwaniw

Offline antoninus1

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Re: An Alexandrian Lead Tessera from Mareotes Nome
« Reply #4 on: August 28, 2008, 02:14:32 am »
Ah, I see.
There is no X to the right, it is clearly the A from MAP for Mareotes.
There is the M to the left and AP to the right.

The object on base remains a riddle. I don´t think it´s a vase. It might be an animal. A cat? I think I can see a long tail.

I am trying to get a picture of the Stacks coin.

Offline antoninus1

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Re: An Alexandrian Lead Tessera from Mareotes Nome
« Reply #5 on: September 01, 2008, 02:47:17 pm »
Today I showed the piece to a friend of mine.
He was sure that the depicted figure is Isis / Nemesis!
She holds a basket in her left hand and plucks her dress with her right hand. In front of her feet is a wheel (no animal).
Well, when I look closely, I really can imagine the wheel with its spokes. It´s not very clear on the photo.

Well, maybe that´s the solution of the riddle.

Offline iwaniw

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Re: An Alexandrian Lead Tessera from Mareotes Nome
« Reply #6 on: September 15, 2008, 11:24:31 pm »
I am just posting the image of my lead token. Emmett-4372; Koeln-3497, to show how the animal looks at the feet of Artemis.

The size is about your coin's size. It has HP in the field.

Iwaniw

Offline antoninus1

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Re: An Alexandrian Lead Tessera from Mareotes Nome
« Reply #7 on: September 16, 2008, 03:19:10 am »
Interesting! Is it Herakleopolites nome?

Maybe the engraver didn´t exactly know how a hind looks like. So he thought that a jackal would also serve  :)

Offline iwaniw

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Re: An Alexandrian Lead Tessera from Mareotes Nome
« Reply #8 on: September 16, 2008, 07:07:38 pm »
antoninus1:

I believe it is a token of the Herakleopolites nome. Milne classifies some of the lead tokens to various nomes, I suspect that many were found in the nomes in which they were assigned by Milne.

It is interesting to see how many different lead types were issued.

Iwaniw

Offline Ardatirion

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Re: An Alexandrian Lead Tessera from Mareotes Nome
« Reply #9 on: February 09, 2013, 08:48:39 am »
This is an unusual piece. The style does not fit with any of the lead tesserae known for Egypt. It could either be a one-off piece shouldn't belong to any major series, or an example of an otherwise unknown group from an area outside of Egypt. MAP could refer to any number of other places.

 

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