Æ21 - Philip I PROVINCIA DACIA, AN I

Provincia Dacia was an unusual Roman provincial coinage series in that it used its own dating system — the AN (anno) notation — counting from the province's reorganization under Philip I in 246 AD. This AN I piece is therefore a first-year issue of that sequence, struck almost certainly at a mint within Dacia itself, though the precise facility remains debated among specialists. Philip had a particular interest in the Danubian provinces, having been born in the region of Arabia Petraea but consolidating his political base through appointments and coin propaganda across the frontier zones.