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AR22 - Marcus Aurelius L Ι
| Issuer | Alexandria (Egypt) |
|---|---|
| Year | 169-170 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
| Weight | 11.53 g |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | Bearded bust of Nilus facing right, the god crowned with a taenia (headband) and lotus-buds rising above his head, characteristic attributes of the Nile deity in Alexandrian iconography. A cornucopia is depicted before the bust, symbolising the abundance and fertility bestowed by the annual Nile inundation. The regnal year date L Ι (Year 10, corresponding to 169–170 AD) appears in the field to the right of the bust. The composition is rendered in the typical style of the Alexandrian imperial mint, with the reverse field otherwise plain. |
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| Additional information |
Year 10 of Marcus Aurelius's reign in Egypt — 169/170 AD — fell during the early stages of the Antonine Plague, the pandemic that had swept back from the eastern campaigns of Lucius Verus and was then moving through the empire at devastating speed. Alexandria itself was not spared. The Alexandrian mint continued striking throughout, and billon tetradrachms from this period circulated in a city where mortality was high enough to disrupt trade and tax collection simultaneously.
The billon content of Alexandrian issues had been declining incrementally since Nero's debasement of the late 60s AD, a slide that never fully reversed.