Numismatic and History Discussion Forums > Greek Coins Discussion Forum
Cleopatra VII, AE17 Neopaphos, Cyprus, Mint, head of Zeus, Zeus standing.
JamesC11:
And yet the Roman historian Spurius Nullius Nemo clearly quoted Cleopatra as saying that Marcus Antonius NEVER had s second cup of coffee at home!
PtolemAE:
--- Quote from: djmacdo on September 28, 2022, 07:51:35 am ---Of course, the onus of proof lies with the person who makes an assertion.
--- End quote ---
Indeed. Logicians are fond of noting that they can't prove there's no Santa Claus :)
PtolemAE
PtolemAE:
--- Quote from: Joe Sermarini on September 30, 2022, 12:48:48 pm ---Coffee is a new world crop, so, no espresso.
But I am confident of the dating of these coins to the time of Cleopatra and Augustus.
--- End quote ---
The context of archaeological finds of these coins on Cyprus does seem to date them to about that time period. Along with many other coins made near Egypt at that time.
I don't recall if Cyprus was even under Ptolemaic control during Cleopatra's reign. A couple of her forbears had been relegated to rule Cyprus at the end of the 2nd C and tried to fight their way back into control of Alexandria from there. Most of the (formerly extensive) Ptolemaic empire outside Egypt had eroded away during the previous hundred years, absorbed into the growing Roman empire. Antony 'gave' some small Roman territories in the eastern Mediterranean area to Cleopatra and coins with her portrait appeared at some towns outside Egypt. Andrew Meadows has made a pretty good case, however, that some of those (e.g. from Orthoseia) were made in Cleopatra's honor rather than under her authority.
That said, these anepigraphic one-denomination 'Zeus Salaminos' coins don't tell us much about who made them or why. I'm reluctant to tie them to Cleopatra other than by accident of their chronology.
PtolemAE
JamesC11:
Ptolemy of Cyprus governed there until 58 B. C. when Marcus Porcius Cato (dispatched by Clodius who hated Ptolemy) arrived to make the island a Roman province leading Ptolemy wisely to take his own life in a timely fashion. And Caesar, trying to escape the trap of Alexandria in 48, gifted Cyprus to Cleopatra's sister Arsinoe and younger brother (the future Ptolemy XIV), a gift soon withdrawn.
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