AR24 - Antoninus Pius L Η

Year 8 of Antoninus Pius corresponds to 144–145 AD, a moment of studied calm in imperial administration — Antoninus had already earned his cognomen "Pius" by persuading the Senate to deify Hadrian, and Egypt under his reign saw no dramatic upheaval, just the grinding machinery of Roman provincial governance. The Alexandrian mint produced billon tetradrachms in substantial quantities throughout his reign, partly to service the closed currency system Rome maintained in Egypt, where Roman denarii were officially excluded from circulation and local coinage was mandatory for all transactions within the province.

The Emmett 1428 type is well-attested across collections, with Milne 1756 placing it firmly in the British Museum's Alexandrian sequence.