Trajan, 98-117, Tetradrachm

Trajan, tetradrachm, bronze, reign 98–117, Alexandria, regnal year L K (116/117), 18.1 g, 34 mm. Obverse with laureate head of Trajan right, legend ΑΥΤ ΤΡΑΙΑΝ ΑΡΙ ϹΕΒ ΓΕΡΜ ΔΑΚΙΚ ΠΑΡ around. Reverse with regnal date L Κ in the fields, as issued at Alexandria for year 26 of Trajan. Struck on a broad flan with centered legends and clear date; minor surface roughness consistent with the bronze issues of the Alexandrian series. RPC III 4942.1.

Alexandria’s dated provincial coinage provides a precise chronological framework for the monetary history of Roman Egypt. Issues of Trajan in regnal year 26 fall within the period immediately following the annexation of Nabataea and near the end of Trajan’s eastern campaigns, reflecting the continued role of Alexandria as a major mint supplying fiduciary bronze coinage for the closed currency system of Egypt under Roman administration.