Æ15 - Marcus Aurelius ΜΙΛΗϹΙΩΝ

Miletus had long ceased to be the dominant Ionian city it once was — Ephesus and Smyrna eclipsed it commercially by the imperial period — but its civic coinage under the Antonines reflects a municipality still investing in the political currency of emperor-flattery. These small bronzes circulated locally, functioning more as civic tokens than instruments of trade across any meaningful distance. The Conventus of Miletus, one of the assize districts through which Roman governors administered justice in Asia, gave the city its administrative relevance long after its commercial prime had passed.