Ephesos in the early second century BC occupied an uncomfortable position between the retreating Seleucid sphere and the expanding influence of Pergamon, which gained formal control of much of western Anatolia following Rome's settlement at Apameia in 188 BC. The magistrate name Anaxilas appearing on this issue places it within a civic bronze series produced under that transitional authority — Pergamene suzerainty in practice, nominal civic autonomy in form.
Ephesos in the early second century BC occupied an uncomfortable position between the retreating Seleucid sphere and the expanding influence of Pergamon, which gained formal control of much of western Anatolia following Rome's settlement at Apameia in 188 BC. The magistrate name Anaxilas appearing on this issue places it within a civic bronze series produced under that transitional authority — Pergamene suzerainty in practice, nominal civic autonomy in form.