AR19 - Diocletian L Γ

This piece dates to Regnal Year 11 of Diocletian's reign in Egypt — the "L Γ" indicating the Egyptian dating system still in use at Alexandria's mint long after Rome had abandoned such conventions elsewhere. The Alexandria mint was one of the last to produce these billon tetradrachms, and Diocletian's currency reform of 294 effectively ended the series: the introduction of the nummus standardized coinage across the empire and rendered the Alexandrian tetradrachm obsolete almost immediately after this year's issues were struck.