Catalog
See full images - free registration
Continue with Google - no registration!
or register with email
Why register? Just to keep bots out of our catalog. Your email stays private - we will never share it or send you anything uninvited. We guarantee you that!
Æ33 - Marcus Aurelius L Ζ
| Issuer | Alexandria (Egypt) |
|---|---|
| Year | 166-167 |
| Type | Log in to see details |
| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Log in to see details |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | Log in to see details |
| Diameter | Log in to see details |
| Thickness | Log in to see details |
| Shape | Log in to see details |
| Technique | Hammered |
| Orientation | Log in to see details |
| Engraver(s) | Log in to see details |
| In circulation to | Log in to see details |
| Reference(s) | Log in to see details |
| Obverse description | Laureate head of Lucius Verus facing right, with traces of drapery visible at the shoulder truncation. The effigy is rendered in the typical Alexandrian provincial style, with a broad flan and bold relief. The circumferential Greek legend runs around the portrait in the field. The coin exhibits characteristic green and brown patination consistent with its Egyptian provenance. |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Log in to see details |
| Obverse lettering | Log in to see details |
| Reverse description | Log in to see details |
| Reverse script | Log in to see details |
| Reverse lettering | L Ζ (Translation: of year 7) |
| Edge | Log in to see details |
| Mint | Log in to see details |
| Mintage | Log in to see details |
| Additional information |
Year 7 of Marcus Aurelius at Alexandria coincides almost exactly with the return of Lucius Verus's army from the Parthian campaigns — troops who brought back the Antonine Plague, which tore through Egypt with particular severity. The Alexandria mint continued striking through the outbreak, making issues from this narrow window unwitting contemporaries of one of the ancient world's most catastrophic pandemics.
Alexandrian bronzes of this size were produced for local Egyptian circulation only, never accepted outside the province under Rome's closed currency system.