Æ25 - Antoninus Pius L Β

Antoninus Pius's first regnal year in Alexandria — Λ Β, year two of his reign by Egyptian reckoning — falls almost immediately after Hadrian's death in July 138. The Alexandrian mint moved quickly to assert the new emperor's authority in Egypt, a province administered separately from the Roman senatorial system and deeply invested in the continuity of imperial cult. Egyptian bronze coinage was strictly fiduciary and did not circulate outside the province; pieces like this one were effectively trapped within a closed monetary system until that system was abolished by Diocletian in 296.