Æ18 - Marcus Aurelius ΑΠΟΛΛΩΝΙ

Apollonia ad Rhyndacum, situated on the eastern shore of Lake Apolloniatis in Bithynia, struck civic bronzes under Marcus Aurelius during the years of the Marcomannic Wars — a period when the emperor spent more time on the Danube frontier than in Rome. Provincial mints like this one operated under considerable autonomy, and the magistrate's name driving the obverse legend often tells us more about local elite politics than anything Rome dictated.