An ancient Ptolemaic Kingdom coin minted during the reign of Egyptian Pharaoh Ptolemy V Epiphanes🤴🏾
🌾Obverse: Head of Isis facing right, wearing wreath of grain ears, and her hair in long curls.
🦅Reverse: Eagle with open wings standing facing left on a thunderbolt. ΠTOΛEMAIOY BAΣIΛEΩΣ
Alexandria, Egypt mint. 204-180 BC.
28mm. 17.7grams.
Ref: Svoronos 1234
Ptolemy V Epiphanes Eucharistos was the King of Ptolemaic Egypt from July or August 204 BC until his death in 180 BC. Ptolemy V, the son of Ptolemy IV and Arsinoe III, inherited the throne at the age of five when his parents died in suspicious circumstances.
Predecessor: Ptolemy IV
Successor: Ptolemy VI
Consort: Cleopatra I
Children: Ptolemy VI, Ptolemy VIII, Cleopatra II
Father: Ptolemy IV
Mother: Arisnoe III
Ptolemy V came of age in 196 BC and was crowned as pharaoh in Memphis, an occasion commemorated by the creation of the Rosetta Stone. After this, he made peace with Antiochus III and married his daughter Cleopatra I in 194/3 BC. This disgusted the Romans, who had entered into hostilities with Antiochus III partially on Ptolemy V's behalf, and after their victory they distributed the old Ptolemaic territories in Asia Minor to Pergamum and Rhodes rather than returning them to Egypt. Ptolemy V's reign saw greatly increased prominence of courtiers and the Egyptian priestly elite in Ptolemaic political life, a pattern that would continue for most of the rest of the kingdom's existence. It also marked the collapse of Ptolemaic power in the wider Mediterranean region.
The day after Ptolemy V's coronation, a synod of priests from all over Egypt who had gathered for the event passed the Memphis decree. The decree was inscribed on stelae, and two of these stelae survive: the Nubayrah Stele and the famous Rosetta Stone. This decree praises Ptolemy V's benefactions for the people of Egypt, recounts his victory over the rebels at Lycopolis, and remits a number of taxes on the temples of Egypt.
