EGYPT, Alexandria. Antoninus Pius
year 8 CE 144/5
AE drachm, 33 mm, 22.9 gm, Zodiac series, "Venus in Taurus"
Obv: Laureate draped bust of Antoninus Pius right
Rev: bull butting left; above, diademed and draped bust of Aphrodite left; star before her; L H (date) in exergue
Ref: Emmett 1450.8, R1
From a similar coin in CNG's archives:
Alexandria saw an immense output of coinage during the eighth year of Antoninus Pius’s reign. The Zodiac drachms, mythological types, and a host of issues for the nomes appeared that year. One explanation for this activity centers on the celebration of the renewal of the Great Sothic cycle, the point when the star Sothis (Sirius) rises on the same point on the horizon as the sun. This cycle of 1461 years began early in the reign of Pius in AD 139, and apparently prompted a renewal in the ancient Egyptian religion, while the coin types also stressed the connections to the Greco-Roman Pantheon.