Maximian, 286-305, Tetradrachm

Maximian, tetradrachm, billon (BI), as Augustus AD 286–305, Alexandria mint, regnal year 10 (L I = AD 295/6), 8.01 g, 20 mm. Obverse with laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Maximian to right, Greek legend ΜΑΞΙΜΙΑΝΟϹ ϹΕΒ. Reverse dated with L I in the fields, Alexandrian tetradrachm type of the period. Struck on the characteristic thick Alexandrian billon flan. RPC X, unassigned (ID 76162).

Alexandrian tetradrachms of Maximian form part of the final phase of Egypt’s long-running provincial tetradrachm coinage, continuing local monetary practice under the Tetrarchy while using imperial portraits and Greek legends. The regnal-year dating system, here year 10, provides a precise minting year and makes the series an important tool for establishing the chronology of imperial representation and administration in Roman Egypt during the consolidation of Diocletian’s and Maximian’s rule.