★ The Great Sothiac Cycle ★
Egypt. Alexandria. Antoninus Pius AD 138-161. Dated RY 6=AD 142/3
Billon-Tetradrachm
23mm., 13,10g.
ΑΝΤωΝΙΝΟС СЄΒ ЄVСЄΒ, laureate head of Antoninus Pius left / Phoenix crowned with nimbus standing right, AI-ωN around, L ς (date) across fields.
very fine, toned, earthen highlights
Dattari (Savio) 2433; Geissen 1426.
The Phoenix and the inscription ΑΙΩΝ (space ot time / age definition) are connected with the commencement of the Great Sothiac Cycle in the third Alexandrian year of Antoninus Pius (AD 139). The Great Sothiac Cycle, a cycle of 1460 Sothic years begins, when the star Sothis (ΣΩΘΙΣ=Sirius) rises on the same point on the horizon as the sun.