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AR24 - Hadrian L Δ
| Issuer | Alexandria (Egypt) |
|---|---|
| Year | 119-120 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Diameter | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | The Canopic jar of Osiris (Canopus) depicted facing right, a sacred cult object of Alexandrian religious tradition rendered as a rounded vessel surmounted by a human head with divine attributes. A small plant or vegetal motif appears above the jar. The regnal year date is inscribed in the field in Greek numerals. |
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| Additional information |
Year four of Hadrian's reign in Egypt — rendered as L Δ in regnal dating — falls in the immediate aftermath of his accession tour, during which he visited Alexandria and made a calculated effort to present himself as a pharaonic ruler rather than a Roman imposition. The Alexandrian mint responded with issues that blended imperial portraiture with deeply local iconographic traditions, a practice that had no parallel elsewhere in the Roman provincial system.
The silver tetradrachm of this period is debased well below true silver standard — closer to billon in practice — yet the mint maintained the fiction of a silver coinage throughout Hadrian's reign.