AR24 - Trajan Decius L - Α

Trajan Decius seized power after his troops proclaimed him emperor and defeated Philip the Arab at Verona in 249 AD. The Alexandrian mint responded quickly, and this piece dates to his first regnal year — the L Α notation marking year one of his Egyptian era. His reign lasted barely two years before he fell at the Battle of Abrittus in 251, the first Roman emperor killed in battle against a foreign enemy.