Egyptian replica coin of Cleopatra VII and Marc Antony
In this category of Egyptian teaching material you will find authentic replica of Egyptian coins, here with the portrait of Cleopatra VII. You can show your students and impressively convey what currency the Egyptians and Romans used for trading and marketing their policy. The replica is made according to an original find, which today can be seen at the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow. It is made from lead free pewter and has been patinated. On the reverse you will find the portrait of Marc Antony.
- on the back: Representation of Marc Antony, the lover of Cleopatra (after Julius Caesar had been dismissed by her).
- Coin diameter: 2.5 cm
- Lead free pewter with patina
- Original: Hunterian Museum, Glasgow
- Delivery in biodegradable packaging
How did Cleopatra VII got on the coin?
You can explain to your students this exciting story from ancient Egypt while they are looking at the Egyptian coin in their hands. Cleopatra VII descended from a paternal old macedonian nobility. Her birth year - 69 BC - is known from Plutarch, specifying that she died at the age of 39. She was one of five children of Ptolemy XII whose oldest child, Berenice IV, ruled from 58 to 55 BC as Ptolemaic Queen. Cleopatra followed her and a third daughter Arsinoë IV, who was born to 68 and 65 BC.
The last children were later husbands and co-regent of Cleopatra, Ptolemy XIII and Ptolemy XIV, 61 and 59 BC. Cleopatra VII Philopator was Pharaoh by 51 BC to 30 BC, and reigned as the last Queen of the Egyptian Ptolemaic Empire. In the first four years she reigned first with her brother, later with other male co-regent. But Cleopatra wanted to consolidate her Empire and expand it, planning to take over the world power of Rome.
Therefore, she took the two most powerful Romans of the time, first Gaius Julius Caesar and after the assassination of him, Marcus Antony, as lovers, in order to improve her political standing and the power position of the Ptolemaic Empire. Antony's defeat to the later Emperor Augustus meant the end of her reign. Cleopatra and Mark Antony committed suicide and Egypt became the Roman province of Egyptus.
Our Egyptian coin as a testimony of this historical drama of love, politics and power
The tragic love of Antony and Cleopatra and the suspicious circumstances surrounding their death incited people's imagination and inspired not only the artist of the Egyptian coin but also many writers, composers and painters, up into our own 20th and 21st centuries.
Look around, and you will discover more replica coins in the Roman Shop. For example, a Roman Sestertius - lovingly designed – commemorating the opening of the Coliseum in 81 A.D. You’ll see, this is paradise for collectors of antiquities and explorers of Egyptian and Roman times.
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