Æ17 - Philip I ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ

Ephesus held the title of first and greatest metropolis of Asia under Roman administration, a status the city aggressively defended against rival Smyrna and Pergamon through competing claims to imperial cult temples. Provincial bronzes struck under Philip I fall within a period when the emperor was simultaneously managing the Persian frontier, paying tribute to the Goths, and preparing for the Secular Games of 248 AD — Rome's thousandth anniversary. Municipal issues from Ephesus during his reign are modestly attested but not exhaustively catalogued.