Cos maintained the right to strike autonomous bronze under the Flavians largely on the strength of its medical reputation — the island was home to the Asclepieion associated with the Hippocratic tradition, and Roman emperors were disinclined to antagonize a sanctuary with that kind of cultural weight. This coin belongs to a civic series that self-consciously advertised that identity, Hygieia serving as the island's most pointed diplomatic argument for continued minting privilege.
Cos maintained the right to strike autonomous bronze under the Flavians largely on the strength of its medical reputation — the island was home to the Asclepieion associated with the Hippocratic tradition, and Roman emperors were disinclined to antagonize a sanctuary with that kind of cultural weight. This coin belongs to a civic series that self-consciously advertised that identity, Hygieia serving as the island's most pointed diplomatic argument for continued minting privilege.