AR23 - Gordian III L Β

Gordian III came to power at thirteen years old following the murder of Pupienus and Balbinus, the third emperor to take the throne in 238 AD — a year that saw five emperors dead. This tetradrachm belongs to his first regnal year at Alexandria, a mint that operated under its own dating system tied to the Egyptian calendar, making Alexandrian issues among the most precisely datable coins of the Roman provincial series. The "L Β" denotes year two of his reign by that local reckoning.