AR24 - Gordian III L Ε

Year five of Gordian III's Egyptian regnal count, rendered as L Ε, places this tetradrachm in 241–242 AD — the period immediately following the young emperor's marriage to Tranquillina and his assumption of sole power after the murder of his praetorian prefect Timesitheus's predecessor. Alexandria's mint operated under a distinct Egyptian calendar system, resetting the regnal year each Thoth, which is why Alexandrian tetradrachms can be dated with unusual precision relative to most provincial issues. The billon content by this reign had degraded significantly from earlier antonine-era issues.