AR24 - Elagabalus L Ε

This tetradrachm dates to regnal year 5 of Elagabalus — the final year before his murder by the Praetorian Guard in March 222 AD, orchestrated in part by his own grandmother Julia Maesa, who had already pivoted her political support to his cousin Severus Alexander. The Alexandrian mint continued its distinctive billon coinage throughout the reign with little interruption, indifferent to the chaos in Rome.

The "L Ε" date formula is characteristic of the Alexandrian regnal dating system, where L functions as an abbreviation for the Greek ἔτους.