Ptolemy VI Philometor (r. 180–145 BCE) survived a perilous childhood to become a genuinely capable ruler. He was in fact, arguably the last Ptolemy with any real governing and military skill. The portrait on his coinage however, is not his own. For the entire dynasty the tetradrachm froze a single obverse type: the deified Ptolemy I Soter, diademed and wearing the aegis at the neck, paired with the eagle on thunderbolt and the legend BAΣIΛEΩΣ ΠTOΛEMAIOY. The Soter portrait was originally cut as a highly individualized head with deep-set eyes, high forehead, an aquiline beaked nose, and a prominent forward chin. The royal diadem is tied around the head with its ends floating loose behind the neck, the hair rendered in thick curls, and the scaled aegis. Under Philometor those elements are still engraved in fine style. Many of his tetradrachms are of exceptional style. His is the last reign of which that can honestly be said. The curls, the diadem ties, the modeled aegis scales remain legible. What comes after is a dramatic collapse in quality. Under his successors, the engraving slowly degrades  into a monotonous stylized portrait.