Diocletian, AD 284-305, Tetradrachm

Maximian, tetradrachm, billon, Augustus AD 286–305, Alexandria, regnal year 3 (AD 288/289); 7.20 g; 19 mm. Obverse: Α Κ Μ ΟΥΑ ΜΑΞΙΜΙΑΝΟϹ ϹΕΒ; laureate bust right. Reverse: L Γ (regnal year 3) in field. Struck at Alexandria on a compact billon flan with provincial fabric typical of the late Alexandrian series. RPC Online X 76014 (unassigned).

Issued during the early Tetrarchy, this Alexandrian tetradrachm names the co-Augustus Maximian and uses the local regnal-year formula (L Γ = year 3), a long-standing practice of Egypt’s closed provincial currency system. Within a few years Diocletian’s monetary reforms (c. AD 296/297) would terminate the centuries-old tetradrachm series, integrating Egypt into the imperial coinage with the reformed bronze nummus.