Year six of Marcus Aurelius's reign coincided with the Antonine Plague's arrival in Egypt, carried back by troops returning from the Parthian War. The epidemic, possibly smallpox, devastated Alexandrian population density and disrupted civic administration for years — making consistent coin production during this precise window genuinely uncertain in volume.
Year six of Marcus Aurelius's reign coincided with the Antonine Plague's arrival in Egypt, carried back by troops returning from the Parthian War. The epidemic, possibly smallpox, devastated Alexandrian population density and disrupted civic administration for years — making consistent coin production during this precise window genuinely uncertain in volume.