AR19 - Diocletian ΙϹΙϹ

Diocletian's Egyptian coinage of this period sits at the tail end of the Alexandrian tetradrachm tradition — a 250-year local monetary system he effectively killed with his currency reforms of 296/297 AD. His edict reorganized Egypt's previously closed currency zone into the broader imperial system, ending Alexandria's unique practice of requiring currency exchange at the border. Coins struck in these final years represent the last gasp of that autonomous tradition, minted in increasingly debased billon before the reformed nummus took over.