Ephesus held the title neokoros — temple warden of the imperial cult — multiple times over, and civic bronze issues like this one were minted in part to assert that status locally. The city's right to strike bronze was a privilege granted by Rome, not assumed, and the volume of types produced under Antoninus Pius reflects just how aggressively Ephesian magistrates exercised it during his reign.
Ephesus held the title neokoros — temple warden of the imperial cult — multiple times over, and civic bronze issues like this one were minted in part to assert that status locally. The city's right to strike bronze was a privilege granted by Rome, not assumed, and the volume of types produced under Antoninus Pius reflects just how aggressively Ephesian magistrates exercised it during his reign.