Æ33 - Antoninus Pius L Η

Regnal year 8 of Antoninus Pius (144–145 AD) places this issue squarely within the most administratively stable period of the entire Antonine dynasty. Alexandria's imperial mint was producing bronze coinage at high volume during these years, partly to service the commercial demands of Egypt's grain economy, which still funneled the bulk of Rome's wheat supply through the port at Alexandria. The Egyptian provincial bronze series ran on its own closed monetary system — Roman coins did not circulate freely in Egypt, and Egyptian coins did not leave it.

Milne's catalog and the subsequent RPC reclassification have both flagged year 8 issues as among the more prolific of the reign, with considerable die variation documented across the series.