Year 16 of Trajan's reign — the reading ΛΙϚ on Alexandrian bronzes of this size is occasionally disputed, with some specimens reassigned between regnal years depending on die linkage studies. Alexandria's civic bronze coinage under Trajan was prolific, and large module pieces like this one served the Egyptian economy in ways Roman imperial bronzes could not, since standard Roman aes was not legal tender in the province. Egypt operated as a closed currency zone, a deliberate Ptolemaic-era policy the Romans simply retained.
Year 16 of Trajan's reign — the reading ΛΙϚ on Alexandrian bronzes of this size is occasionally disputed, with some specimens reassigned between regnal years depending on die linkage studies. Alexandria's civic bronze coinage under Trajan was prolific, and large module pieces like this one served the Egyptian economy in ways Roman imperial bronzes could not, since standard Roman aes was not legal tender in the province. Egypt operated as a closed currency zone, a deliberate Ptolemaic-era policy the Romans simply retained.