AR23 - Gordian III L Ε

The "L Ε" regnal year notation places this tetradrachm in Gordian III's fifth Egyptian year — 241–242 AD — a period when the young emperor, still in his teens, was effectively governed by his praetorian prefect Timesitheus, whose daughter he had married. Alexandria's imperial tetradrachms of this era were struck in billon of progressively declining silver content, part of a slow debasement that would accelerate sharply under Gallienus two decades later. The Emmett 3452.5 reference designates the specific regnal year within the series.