Æ17 - Gordian III ΜΑΓΝΗΤΩΝ

Magnesia ad Maeandrum, situated in the Maeander valley of Lydia, was one of dozens of Asian Greek cities that maintained civic bronze coinage through the third century under the arrangement that allowed provincial centers to strike for local exchange while Rome controlled precious metal currency. Gordian III's reign, cut short at nineteen when his Praetorian prefect Philip the Arab engineered his death on campaign in Mesopotamia, produced a substantial volume of these civic bronzes across the conventus system.

The Miletus conventus administered a geographically sprawling group of cities with long-established minting traditions. At 2.36g this piece sits at the lighter end of the type's known weight range.