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Tetradrachm - Diocletianus LI B, Eirene, Alexandria
| Issuer | Alexandria Mint |
|---|---|
| Year | 295 |
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| Value | Log in to see details |
| Currency | Drachm |
| Composition | Log in to see details |
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| Obverse description | Log in to see details |
|---|---|
| Obverse script | Greek |
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| Reverse description | Standing figure of Eirene (Greek personification of Peace, equated with Roman Pax) depicted to the left in long flowing robes, holding an upright sceptre in her left hand and an olive branch extended in her right. A six-pointed star appears in the right field, a common decorative element on Alexandrian tetradrachms of this period. The regnal year legend LI B (Year 12) is placed in the left field, rendered in Greek numerals consistent with the Alexandrian dating system. The reverse composition is characteristic of the late Diocletianic Alexandrian series, with the goddess rendered in a simplified, hieratic provincial style. |
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| Additional information |
By 295 AD, the Alexandrian tetradrachm had been so thoroughly debased that "billon" is a generous term — the silver content was negligible, the coins functioning essentially as token currency propped up by imperial decree. Diocletian's monetary reforms were already in motion; his Edict on Coinage of 301 would attempt to fix exchange rates between denominations across the empire, a policy almost immediately undermined by hoarding and market resistance.
This is a late issue in the long series of Alexandrian regnal tetradrachms, a coinage tradition the city had maintained with remarkable continuity since the Ptolemaic period. The series effectively ended with Diocletian's broader currency restructuring.