Tetradrachm - Diocletian L Α

Diocletian's first regnal year in Alexandria marks the opening of one of the longest reigns in the entire imperial period — 21 years before his voluntary abdication in 305. This piece predates the currency reforms he would later impose across the empire, reforms that effectively killed the Alexandrian tetradrachm series entirely; the mint struck its last billon tetradrachms in 296/297, when Diocletian's new argenteus-based system rendered the old provincial coinage obsolete. The potin alloy here reflects decades of debasement from the once-silver tetradrachms of earlier centuries.