Æ19 - Commodus ϹΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ

Smyrna was among the most aggressively competitive cities in Asia Minor when it came to imperial cult honors, and coinage was a primary vehicle for that competition. The city held the rare distinction of being a twice-neokoros — a title granted for hosting an imperial temple — and municipal bronzes of this period were issued partly to assert that status against rival cities like Ephesus and Pergamon. The civic pride embedded in these issues was institutional, not incidental.