Æ34 - Trajan L ΙΖ

Year 17 of Trajan's reign — the Egyptian regnal dating system Alexandria used rather than Roman consular years — places this issue squarely in the period when Trajan was consolidating Rome's annexation of Nabataea and preparing the infrastructure for his Parthian campaign. The Alexandria mint was administratively separate from the Roman imperial mint system, operating under the prefect of Egypt and producing coinage exclusively for circulation within Egypt, where Roman denarii did not serve as legal tender.