Ptolemy, son of Lagus, was a high-ranking officer in Alexander鈥檚 army, and was appointed satrap of Egypt after Alexander鈥檚 death in 323 BCE when Alexander鈥檚 generals divided up his empire. In 305-304 BCE he proclaimed himself king.聽He eventually began using the epithet Soter (saviour). In 285 BCE he made his son Ptolemy II Philadelphus co-regent and died two years later at 84 years of age, leaving behind him a dynasty that lasted until the death of the famous Cleopatra VII in 30 BCE.
When Alexander marched into Egypt in 332 BCE he was received as a liberator. Egypt had been conquered by the Persians in 525 BCE, but it had rebelled repeatedly and in 404 BCE had become independent again.聽The Persians reconquered it in 343, but had not yet had time to re-integrate it into their empire when Alexander invaded. For pragmatic reasons Egyptians accepted Alexander as their ruler, and Ptolemy drew on Alexander鈥檚 legacy to promote his own legitimacy, both among the Greek and Macedonian immigrants in places like Alexandria, and among the native Egyptians. Ptolemy utilized the propaganda value of coinage by depicting the source of his authority on the obverse of his coins.聽
Portraits on coins, before Alexander, had been reserved for gods.聽On the obverse of his earliest coins, however, Ptolemy replaced the image of a Heracles (who looked like Alexander) with an image which was indisputably that of Alexander himself.聽Alexander wears the scalp of an elephant to represent the last conquest of new territory before his death, India. Heracles鈥 lion鈥檚 skin would, of course, have been perfectly good attire for his descendant Alexander, but the use of the elephant scalp instead of the lion鈥檚 skin makes a clear distinction between the two heroes. Furthermore, Alexander is depicted with the ram鈥檚 horns of the Egyptian god Ammon whom Alexander had claimed as his own divine father.聽One can see nods both to Greco-Macedonian immigrants who admired Alexander鈥檚 military prowess and to native Egyptians familiar with Ammon. On the reverse Ptolemy retained the seated Zeus of Alexander鈥檚 coinage as well as the dead king鈥檚 name.聽 There is little evidence to provide a date for Ptolemy鈥檚 introduction of these coins, so scholars suggest ca. 321 to coincide with Ptolemy鈥檚 abduction of Alexander鈥檚 funeral cortege, another powerful propaganda move to legitimize his rule.聽Eventually the reverse of Ptolemy鈥檚 Alexander coins was adorned with the image of an advancing Athena accompanied by Ptolemy鈥檚 personal badge of an eagle and a thunderbolt. The obverse was also redesigned with the elephant scalp pushed back to accommodate a diadem on Alexander鈥檚 forehead, and the sections of the elephant scalp tied under his chin took on the scales of the Aegis of Zeus and Athena (Figs. 1 & 2).
The diadem 鈥 a fillet that the Persian kings had worn around the upright tiara but that Alexander had worn alone 鈥 had been the symbol of Achaemenid kingship and was adopted by Alexander in 330 BCE when he began integrating Persian customs into his court. The practice was carried on by the Diadochi. Wearing the diadem was part of the assumption of royal status. The diadem became the symbol of kingship in the Hellenistic period, and, from Ptolemy鈥檚 portrait on his coins onwards, it was standard iconography for coin portraits. Such was the diadem鈥檚 centrality to the image of a Hellenistic ruler, that it is still depicted in portraits on coins even then when the ruler wears some other head-gear which covers it.聽In such cases its ends flying out behind the neck make its presence clear. The elephant scalp took on a lasting association with Alexander and the image of power, and was especially favoured by the Indo-Bactrian kings from Demetrius I onwards.
