Hadrian, 117-138, Tetradrachm

Hadrian, Tetradrachm, AR, reign 117–138 CE; struck at Alexandria, regnal year 12 (127/8 CE). 12.67 g; 24 mm. Obverse: ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ ΤΡΑΙ ΑΔΡΙΑ ϹΕΒ; laureate head of Hadrian right. Reverse: L ΔΩΔΕΚΑTΟΥ denoting regnal year 12, the date placed in the field as customary for Alexandrian issues. Struck at Alexandria on the provincial silver standard with Greek legends employing the lunate sigma. RPC III 5714.

This Alexandrian tetradrachm belongs to the closed currency system of Roman Egypt, where locally struck, Greek‑legend silver issues functioned as the principal silver-based denomination and were dated by the emperor’s regnal year using the L (etos) marker. Year 12 corresponds to 127/8 CE, in the middle of Hadrian’s reign, and the obverse titulature (ΑΥΤ ΚΑΙ ΤΡΑΙ ΑΔΡΙΑ ϹΕΒ = Autokrator Kaisar Traianos Hadrianos Sebastos) reflects his formal succession to Trajan. Such precisely dated issues provide a reliable chronological framework for Egypt’s monetary history and illustrate the administrative distinctiveness of the province under imperial oversight.