AR24 - Septimius Severus L - Ε

This tetradrachm falls in the middle years of Severus's Egyptian coinage, struck when Alexandria was adjusting to a new dynastic reality after Severus's elimination of his co-emperor Clodius Albinus. The regnal year Ε (year 5) places it squarely in 196–197 AD, a period when Severus was consolidating control following the civil wars and preparing his punitive campaign against Parthia. Alexandria's imperial mint operated under strict central oversight despite its geographic remoteness, and the billon fabric here — a debased silver alloy — reflects the progressive debasement that had been eroding the tetradrachm since Nero's currency reforms in 64 AD.