Æ34 - Hadrian L Δ

Year 4 of Hadrian's reign corresponds to the emperor's early consolidation period, before his famous tours of the provinces. Alexandria's mint was among the most active in the eastern empire, operating on the Egyptian regnal year system rather than the Roman consular calendar — hence the "L Δ" (year 4) notation that distinguishes Alexandrian issues from all other provincial coinages. The mint answered directly to the prefect of Egypt, not to Rome, a bureaucratic arrangement that gave it unusual administrative independence.