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Sometimes you come across an object, and it simply transports you back in time.  You can just see the the place and person and it sweeps you off your feet. 

This coin is one of those objects for me.  It just makes my heart sing. Check out the feathers on that Macedonian eagle, you just know Ptolemy's chin had a cleft in it. Just gorgeous.  In Greek, it says, Ptolemy Basileus (King)

Why do I think this bad boy is so cool?  This next image. Look for the little triangle behind the ear.


That triangle is actually a delta, and is the initial of the engraver in Ptolemy Soter's Mint in Alexandria who engraved this and other coins throughout his and Ptolemy Philadelphus' reign.  Unlike other engravers, this Demetrius, or David, or Darius, was an artist and very proud of his work, and he put his initial somewhere on the coins he engraved.  Of course, in Egypt, he might have a Diana or Deborah, but it's unlikely.  Coulda, but unlikely.

I look at that, and I see him working in a shop, somewhere near the harbor.  I can hear the seagulls.  I know he's thinking about walking to the agora and getting some wine on the way home.  Maybe making plans to go to the hippodrome with some friends when the races are running on two-day.  And I just want to go buy him a drink for giving me this moment.

My appreciation to this charming website, http://members.verizon.net/vze3xycv/Jerusalem/conflictsum.htm (Jerusalem through coins) for a very special, heart-singing moment.