AR23 - Philip I L - Α

Philip I came to power in 244 AD after the death of Gordian III on campaign against Persia — circumstances suspicious enough that Philip himself was widely accused of engineering the young emperor's end. Egypt, administered as an imperial province under a prefect answerable directly to the emperor, absorbed the regime change with characteristic bureaucratic efficiency. The Alexandrian mint shifted allegiance without pause, issuing this billon tetradrachm in year one of the new reign, the regnal year Α indicating it was struck within months of Philip's accession.