Æ17 - Augustus POLLIONE ITER LABEONE F IIV (R)

Cnossus was refounded as a Roman colony — Colonia Iulia Nobilis — under Julius Caesar or Augustus, settled largely with veterans and freedmen displacing much of the existing Cretan population. The magistrates named in this issue, Pollio and Labeo, held the duoviral office responsible for authorizing local bronze coinage, a privilege the colony exercised with some frequency under Augustus. Provincial bronze of this size circulated almost exclusively within the colony itself, making survival in any condition a minor accident of local archaeology rather than trade.