AR23 - Gordian III L Γ

Gordian III's third regnal year in Alexandria — the year marked on this tetradrachm by the date LΓ — fell early in a reign that began when he was around thirteen years old, with real power held by his Praetorian prefect Timesitheus, who also became his father-in-law. The Alexandria mint remained one of the most productive in the empire precisely because Egypt functioned as a closed monetary zone: Roman denarii were exchanged at the border and tetradrachms issued in their place, keeping imperial silver from hemorrhaging into eastern trade networks.