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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;dougsmit, post: 2017071, member: 19463&quot;]Egyptian years began at the end of August (29th?) and an emperor began his second year on that date even if he had only been in power a day before that.&nbsp; Therefore, we see a date like 290-291 which means (in Egypt and only in Egypt) between 29 August 290 and 28 August 291.&nbsp; That would make some rulers to have a shorter LA and whatever their last number was than the rest and also possible for someone to come to power in late August, die in early September and have some coins dated LB. Emmitt has a chart that makes this all easy if you already understand it.&nbsp; Further, some, not all, junior rulers dated their coins according to the senior ruler&#039;s number so a Caracalla dated year 21 means that year for Septimius Severus counting from 193 rather than from his own date of 198.&nbsp; Since Alexandrian coins of Caracalla are extremely rare, this will cause us few problems.&nbsp; I&#039;ll show a coin here with Aurelian (right) credited to the first year of his reign LA and Vahabalathus (left) to year 4 (LD).&nbsp; Remember neither of these people were in Egypt at the time so I really do not know how they felt about it.&nbsp;&nbsp; In that part of the world in that year, Vahabalathus was more in charge so I assume the decision was made by one of his bureaucrats. </p><p>[ATTACH=full]364239[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>Of course you have to realize that all such conversions at that time don&#039;t allow for our more recent calendar manipulations (Gregorian vs. Julian) that caused some countries in relatively recent times to be saying it was one date while their neighbor was observing a different system.&nbsp; Eqyptians had leap years but I quite honestly do not recall how and when they added a day so I do not know how long LZ was in this case (nor do I consider that lacking one of my more major shortcomings; my being too lazy to look it up in Emmitt is less commendable).&nbsp; It is not unusual to see may dates for ancient history expressed as a range according to what system was being used and who was using it.&nbsp; Some Roman emperors, at Rome, upped their TR P number on the anniversary of their ascension while others did so on New Year&#039;s day.&nbsp; Do not expect dates in the standard Christian system until about a thousand years after we consider that antiquity ended.&nbsp; If you see a coin of Julius Caesar dated 44BC, rest assured it is a fake.&nbsp;&nbsp; I have known a lot of collectors over the years but can&#039;t recall one trying to fill out a year set for a long ruling emperor by TR P numbers or by Egyptian numbers although I have known&nbsp; a couple people that relished having last year of reign coins.&nbsp; </p><p><br /></p><p>The fact that Aurelian died in September of his LZ makes all his coins of that year rare but his wife&#039;s coins dated LZ are common providing fuel for the theory that she ruled alone in the period before the election of Tacitus later that year.&nbsp; History on paper fails us here but coins fill in a piece of information in need of consideration.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]364244[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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