Catalog
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| Issuer | Alexandria (Egypt) |
|---|---|
| Year | 230-231 |
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| Reference(s) | RPC VI#10492 |
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|---|---|
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| Reverse description | Nilus, the personification of the Nile river, seated left atop a hippopotamus, rendered in the characteristically Egyptian Alexandrian style. The deity holds corn ears in his right hand and a cornucopia in his left, symbolising the river's agricultural bounty. A palm branch rises behind the figure. The regnal year date appears in the field. |
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| Edge | Plain |
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| Additional information |
Alexandria's civic bronze coinage under Severus Alexander operated on the Egyptian regnal year system, and year LΙ — his tenth — falls in 230–231 AD, a period when the emperor was increasingly preoccupied with the mounting Sasanian threat on Rome's eastern frontier. Ardashir I had launched his first major offensive into Roman Mesopotamia around 230, and the pressure would eventually force Severus Alexander to lead a campaign east in 231–232. Alexandrian bronzes of this phase circulated in a province still economically vital to Rome's grain supply, making their continued production a logistical as much as a political act.