Æ36 - Trajan L ΙΒ

Year 12 of Trajan's reign, which this coin dates to by its regnal dating formula, coincided with the emperor's intensive preparations for the first Dacian war's aftermath and the consolidation of the new province. Alexandria's mint operated under Roman prefectural authority but retained its own dating system — Egyptian regnal years rather than Roman consular dating — a bureaucratic holdover from Ptolemaic administrative practice that Roman governors never bothered to dismantle. The mint's output during this period was substantial, feeding a provincial economy still largely dependent on bronze for everyday exchange.

The reference III#4308.2 suggests a minor die variant within the type, though the distinctions between neighboring catalog numbers in this series are often a matter of millimeters in wreath placement.