Numerian, 283-284, Tetradrachm

Numerian, tetradrachm, billon (BI), reign AD 283–284, Alexandria, regnal year 2 (L B = AD 284), 7.21 g, 21 mm. Obverse with laureate, draped and cuirassed bust of Numerian right, encircled by Greek legend Α Κ Μ Α ΝΟΥΜΕΡΙΑΝΟϹ ϹΕΒ. Reverse dated L B, regnal year 2, with the reverse type as struck at Alexandria for this dated issue; Alexandrian billon fabric. RPC X, unassigned (temporary record: ID 75848).

Numerian’s Alexandrian tetradrachms belong to the final decades of Roman Egypt’s long-running provincial silver-based currency, distinguished by Greek legends and explicit regnal-year dating. Issued during a brief reign marked by the succession from Carus and the eastern campaign, Numerian’s dated Alexandrian coinage provides fixed chronological evidence for imperial authority in Egypt immediately before the rise of Diocletian and the later monetary reforms that ended this local tetradrachm tradition.