A Possibly Unique Isis Head Bronze Coin of Cleopatra I (180-176 BC)

The Isis bronze coins of Ptolemaic Egypt, SNG Cop. 240 (Sv1154), 246 (Sv1233), 247 (Sv1234), – (Sv1235), 253 (Sv1237), 256 (Sv1238), 261 (Sv1240), 278 (Sv1382), 279 (Sv1384), and 332 (Sv1491), show on obverse a female head with corkscrew locks and a wreath of barley. Both features indicate the Egyptian-Greek goddess Isis-Demeter. A recently discovered example of an Isis coin with the obverse legend ΒΑΣΙΛΙΣΣΗΣ ΚΛΕΟΠΑΤΡΑΣ belongs to a group of coins (Sv1380-2 = SNG Cop. 276-7), all with A monogram and obverse legend for 'Queen Cleopatra', which were produced during the joint reign of Cleopatra I (180-176 BC) with her co-regent son Ptolemy VI, although this coin may have been produced in the reign of Cleopatra II with Ptolemy VI (176-145 BC). Various published views of the portraiture of Cleopatra I are reviewed but some uncertainty remains. However, the bronze Ptolemaic Isis coins of Alexandria represent Queen Cleopatra as Isis.