Æ34 - Antoninus Pius L Η

Year 8 of Antoninus Pius corresponds to 144–145 AD, placing this issue squarely within the most administratively stable decade of the entire Antonine period. Alexandria's imperial bronze coinage was produced on a closed monetary system — Egyptian currency could not legally leave the province, and foreign coins brought in were exchanged and reminted. That insularity accounts for the distinctly local character of Alexandrian bronzes and explains why so many survive in regionally concentrated hoards rather than scattered across the empire.