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AR23 - Antoninus Pius L ΙΔ
| Issuer | Alexandria (Egypt) |
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| Year | 150-151 |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | 23 mm |
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| Obverse description | Laureate bust of Antoninus Pius facing right, with traces of drapery visible at the shoulder. The effigy is rendered in the characteristic Antonine style, with a fleshy, bearded portrait typical of Alexandrian provincial coinage. The Greek legend encircles the bust within a beaded border. |
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| Reverse description | The she-wolf (lupa romana) stands to the right with head turned back to the left, suckling the twins Romulus and Remus who are depicted below. The regnal year legend appears in the field. The composition references the founding myth of Rome, a motif employed on Alexandrian tetradrachms to celebrate the connection between Egypt and the imperial Roman tradition. |
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| Additional information |
Year 14 of Antoninus Pius fell during one of the most stable stretches of Roman imperial rule — the provinces were quiet, the grain supply from Egypt functioned, and the Alexandria mint produced at volume. The Alexandrian billon tetradrachms of this reign are consequently common as a series, but individual regnal years vary considerably in surviving numbers, and Year 14 sits toward the scarcer end of the run.
The billon content by this period had declined noticeably from earlier Julio-Claudian standards, a gradual debasement the Alexandrian mint pursued independently of Rome's own silver coinage.