Thyatira, a Lydian city of modest political standing, punched above its weight in bronze coinage under Trajan — the city's guild economy, dominated by dyers and wool merchants, generated enough civic wealth to sustain a consistent local mint. The conventus system meant Pergamum held judicial authority over the region, but individual cities retained the right to issue bronze for local exchange, and Thyatira exercised that right persistently across the second century.
The reference III#1826 places this within the broader Lydia volume of the old imperial series cataloguing Asia Minor civic bronzes — a classification that has seen ongoing revision as hoards from the Gediz valley continue to surface.
Thyatira, a Lydian city of modest political standing, punched above its weight in bronze coinage under Trajan — the city's guild economy, dominated by dyers and wool merchants, generated enough civic wealth to sustain a consistent local mint. The conventus system meant Pergamum held judicial authority over the region, but individual cities retained the right to issue bronze for local exchange, and Thyatira exercised that right persistently across the second century.
The reference III#1826 places this within the broader Lydia volume of the old imperial series cataloguing Asia Minor civic bronzes — a classification that has seen ongoing revision as hoards from the Gediz valley continue to surface.