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Tetradrachm - Nero and Poppaea ΠΟΠΠΑΙΑ ΣΕΒΑΣΗ LΙΑ
| Issuer | Alexandria |
|---|---|
| Year | 64-65 |
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| Shape | Round (irregular) |
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| Obverse description | Radiate bust of Nero facing right, draped and cuirassed, with the characteristic thick neck and youthful features associated with the Alexandrian portrait style of his reign. The emperor wears a radiate crown, a convention adopted in Egyptian coinage to assimilate the ruler with the solar deity. The surrounding Greek legend is disposed around the bust in the field, reading from upper left in abbreviated form. The flan is irregular and somewhat worn, typical of circulated billon tetradrachms of the Julio-Claudian period struck at Alexandria. |
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| Reverse lettering | ΠΟΠΠΑΙΑ ΣΕΒΑΣΗ LΙΑ (Translation: `Poppaia Sebaste` (Poppaea Augusta)) |
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| Additional information |
Poppaea Sabina appears on Alexandrian coinage only briefly — she died in 65 AD, and ancient sources, including Suetonius and Tacitus, attribute her death to a kick from Nero himself, possibly while she was pregnant. The joint portrait tetradrachms of this regnal year are therefore among the last struck bearing her likeness, produced in the same Egyptian fiscal year as her death.
Alexandria's billon tetradrachms of this period were the dominant currency of Roman Egypt, a closed monetary system in which only locally-minted coinage was legal tender — imported silver was confiscated and reminted at a profit to the imperial treasury.