Æ18 - Septimius Severus ΚΑΛΧΑΔΟΝΙΩΝ

Calchedon occupied a strategically critical position at the mouth of the Bosphorus — directly across from Byzantium — and its civic coinage under Septimius Severus carries an undercurrent of local anxiety. When Severus besieged and punished Byzantium between 193 and 196 AD for supporting his rival Pescennius Niger, Calchedon had backed Severus early, a calculated alignment that likely preserved the city's minting privileges while its neighbor across the strait was stripped of civic status entirely.