Æ33 - Antoninus Pius L Ι]Η

Year 18 of Antoninus Pius's reign, which this coin marks with the regnal date, fell during one of the more administratively stable periods of Roman Egypt — a province managed with unusual bureaucratic intensity, its grain output feeding much of Rome. Alexandrian bronzes of this reign are plentiful, but weight variation across the series is pronounced; at 20.70g this piece sits toward the lighter end of the Æ33 range, consistent with the gradual debasement of the nome coinage observed through the later years of Pius's prefecture issues.