EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius. AD 138-161. Æ Drachm (32mm, 26.53 g, 12h). Dated RY 18 (AD 154/5). AYT K T AI AΔP ANTωNINOC CЄB ЄYC, laureate bust right, slight drapery on left shoulder / Lykurgos and the Vines of Dionysos – King Lykurgos right, his left knee kneeling on a vine stump, his arms pulled behind him by the vines, his head tilted up and his axe between his legs; [L I H (date) across field]. Köln –; Dattari (Savio) 8842; K&G 35.650; RPC IV.4 1700; Emmett 1603.18 (R5). Dark brown patina, roughness, scratches, scrape on obverse. Good Fine. Extremely rare.
A rather obscure myth, in one version King Lykurgos is credited with defeating the army of Dionysos when the god invaded Thrace. Dionysos escaped by plunging into the sea and sought refuge in Thetis’ grotto. Dionysos’ mother, Rhea, upset by her son’s misfortune, drove Lykurgos mad and then helped her son’s army to escape. Lykurgos, in his madness, killed his own son Dryas with an axe (believing he was cutting down a vine, hence the coin type), and then pruned the corpse of its nose, ears, fingers, and toes. Dionysos, returning from the sea, told the people of Thrace that Lykurgos would have to be killed or the land would remain barren as punishment for Lykurgos’ crime. King Lykurgos was then killed by being drawn and quartered by wild horses.
Description