Æ17 - Vespasian ΚΩΙΩΝ ΥΓΙΕΙΑ

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.