Year 4 of Trajan's reign corresponds to 100–101 AD, the same period in which Trajan was consolidating administrative reforms across the eastern provinces. Alexandrian bronzes of this size were the workhorses of Egyptian retail commerce, circulating within a closed monetary system that barred foreign coin from legal use — Roman denarii included. Egypt functioned as an imperial treasury reserve, and its mint answered directly to the prefect rather than the Senate.
The delta regnal year dating, standard to the Alexandrian series, allows unusually precise attribution for provincial bronzes of this period.
Year 4 of Trajan's reign corresponds to 100–101 AD, the same period in which Trajan was consolidating administrative reforms across the eastern provinces. Alexandrian bronzes of this size were the workhorses of Egyptian retail commerce, circulating within a closed monetary system that barred foreign coin from legal use — Roman denarii included. Egypt functioned as an imperial treasury reserve, and its mint answered directly to the prefect rather than the Senate.
The delta regnal year dating, standard to the Alexandrian series, allows unusually precise attribution for provincial bronzes of this period.