Æ17 - Severus Alexander ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ

Metropolis in Ionia was a minor city that punched slightly above its weight in the third century by leveraging its position within the Ephesian conventus — the Roman judicial district centered on one of the wealthiest cities in the eastern empire. Local bronze issues like this one were struck on civic authority to meet small-denomination exchange needs that imperial coinage didn't bother with. The city's name itself, despite the grand implications, reflects an old honorific rather than any genuine metropolitan status.