AEGYPTOS

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AEGYPTOS - Egypt personified under the image of a woman seated on the ground, holding in her right hand the sistrum, resting her left arm on the canistrum, or basket filled with fruits, and having on her right foot the Ibis standing.

This reverse which appears on coins of Hadrian, in all the three metals, was struck on the occasion of that Emperor's visit to Egypt, after having been in Judaea and Arabia, probably about the year U. C. 883, A. D. 130. (Eckhel, vi. 488.) The type is elegant, on gold and first brass, and is peculiarly appropriate to Egypt. The sistrum was a musical instrument sacred to Isis, in whose worship it was used, and national to Egypt. [See the word.] The canistrum, or basket of wheat, signifies the fruitfulness of the country, which is caused by the inundation of the Nile.

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