Æ19 - Domitian ϹΑΜΙΩΝ

Samos had a complicated relationship with Roman authority by the Flavian period — the island had lost its long-held free status under Augustus, who stripped it as punishment for sheltering Mark Antony and Cleopatra, and it would not recover that status until Caracalla. Local bronze issues under Domitian were struck by civic authority within the Milesian conventus, the administrative district through which Roman judicial and financial oversight was channeled across Ionia. The ethnic ϹΑΜΙΩΝ identifies the issuing community unambiguously, a common convention for civic bronzes operating without imperial mint supervision.