AR24 - Marcus Aurelius L Β

This tetradrachm dates to the first regnal year of Marcus Aurelius as sole emperor following the death of Antoninus Pius in March 161 — though "sole" is a simplification, since Marcus immediately elevated Lucius Verus as co-emperor, the first time Rome had operated under two Augusti simultaneously. The Alexandrian mint, which reckoned its years by the Egyptian calendar, began this new era on 29 August 161.

Egypt remained a special administrative case under direct imperial control, its mint producing billon tetradrachms rather than the silver denarii circulating elsewhere in the empire.