Hadrian, 117-138, Tetradrachm

Hadrian, Tetradrachm, AR, reign AD 117–138, struck Alexandria, Year 18 = AD 133/4, 11.54 g, 24.0 mm. Obv: ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙϹ ΤΡΑΙΑΝ – ΑΔΡΙΑΝΟϹ ϹΕΒ; laureate head of Hadrian right. Rev: L ΙΗ; regnal year 18 (IH) preceded by the Egyptian year sign L, denoting the date AD 133/4. Struck on the Alexandrian tetradrachm standard with Greek legends and a dated reverse under the authority of the Roman prefect at Alexandria. RPC III 5871.

Issued within Egypt’s closed currency system, Alexandrian tetradrachms carried Greek legends and explicit regnal dates in place of Roman denarius circulation. The obverse titulature styles Hadrian as “Imperator Caesar Trajan Hadrian Augustus,” emphasizing his adoptive link to Trajan, while the regnal date Year 18 (AD 133/4) places the coin in the later phase of his reign, contemporaneous with wider imperial challenges such as the Bar Kokhba revolt, and reflects the distinct administrative and monetary practices maintained in Roman Egypt.