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AR24 - Hadrian L Γ
| Issuer | Alexandria (Egypt) |
|---|---|
| Year | 118-119 |
| Type | Standard circulation coin |
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| Composition | Log in to see details |
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|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | The Agathodaemon serpent depicted erect and rearing to the right, crowned with the double crown of Egypt (pschent), its coils enfolding a caduceus and a stalk of grain (corn). The date regnal legend L Γ (Year 3) appears in the field. This reverse type is a hallmark of Alexandrian provincial coinage, combining Greek and Egyptian religious iconography to reflect the syncretic character of Roman Egypt. |
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| Additional information |
Year three of Hadrian's reign coincided with his consolidation of a radically different imperial policy from Trajan's — abandoning newly conquered Mesopotamia and pulling Roman forces back to defensible frontiers. Alexandria, as the administrative and economic capital of Egypt, was acutely sensitive to these shifts; Egypt's grain supply directly funded imperial ambitions, and the provincial coinage issued here operated under a closed currency system that forced all incoming silver to be reminted at a deliberately debased local standard.
The Alexandrian tetradrachm, though struck in silver, carried a fineness well below the contemporary imperial denarius — a fiscal arrangement Rome maintained deliberately to prevent currency arbitrage across the Egyptian border.