AR21 - Diocletian L Δ

Year four of Diocletian's reign in Egyptian reckoning — marked by the L Δ regnal date — coincides almost exactly with his sweeping monetary reform of 296 AD, which abolished the old Alexandrian tetradrachm tradition entirely. This piece represents one of the final issues of a coinage system that had operated continuously, in one form or another, since the Ptolemaic era. The Alexandria mint was folded into the imperial system shortly after, striking the new post-reform nummus alongside the rest of the empire.