Æ14 Rod of Asklepios

Pergamon passed to Rome by bequest in 133 BC when Attalos III died without an heir, willing his kingdom directly to the Senate — an act that stunned the Greek world and triggered an immediate revolt under the pretender Aristonikos. The city continued striking autonomous-style bronze through that turbulent transition and well into the early imperial period, a conservative minting practice that reflected Pergamon's unusual status as a city that had effectively purchased its own privileges through a dead king's will.