Æ34 - Trajan L ΙΖ

Year 17 of Trajan's reign in Egypt — rendered as L ΙΖ in the regnal dating system Alexandria used in place of consular years — fell during the period of his Parthian buildup, when the eastern provinces were absorbing enormous logistical pressure from troop movements and supply requisitions. Alexandrian bronzes of this year circulated heavily in a city that was simultaneously Rome's grain depot and its most contested administrative headache.

The Alexandrian mint operated under prefectural rather than senatorial authority, answerable directly to the emperor. Egypt was the one province a senator was legally barred from entering without imperial permission.