Æ34 - Hadrian L Β

Hadrian's second regnal year in Egypt — the dating system here counts from his accession following Trajan's death in August 117 — places this coin at the very opening of his reign, before his administrative reforms to the province had taken hold. Alexandria's mint was among the most prolific in the Roman world, operating under a distinct currency system that kept Egyptian bronze effectively inconvertible with coinage circulating elsewhere in the empire, a deliberate policy of monetary isolation Rome maintained throughout the imperial period.