Æ18 - Commodus ΚΥΖΙΚΗΝΩΝ

Cyzicus, a prosperous city on the southern shore of the Propontis, retained the right to strike bronze civic coinage under Roman oversight — a privilege tied directly to its status as the administrative seat of its conventus. These small bronzes circulated locally, handling transactions the imperial silver coinage was far too valuable for. Commodus' reign saw increasingly erratic relations between the emperor and provincial cities, particularly after his adoption of the persona of Hercules reborn around 191 AD, though civic mints like Cyzicus continued operating with little apparent disruption to output.