Trajan Decius came to power after defeating and killing Philip the Arab at Verona in September 249, and Alexandria's mint responded quickly, issuing tetradrachms within the first regnal year. His reign, though barely two years long, produced a substantial Alexandrian output — partly because he demanded active propaganda support for his revival of traditional Roman religious observance, the same program that triggered the first systematic empire-wide persecution of Christians.
The "L Α" reverse dating places this in Year 1, the shortest of his three Egyptian regnal years before his death at Abritus in June 251.
Trajan Decius came to power after defeating and killing Philip the Arab at Verona in September 249, and Alexandria's mint responded quickly, issuing tetradrachms within the first regnal year. His reign, though barely two years long, produced a substantial Alexandrian output — partly because he demanded active propaganda support for his revival of traditional Roman religious observance, the same program that triggered the first systematic empire-wide persecution of Christians.
The "L Α" reverse dating places this in Year 1, the shortest of his three Egyptian regnal years before his death at Abritus in June 251.