Æ19 - Marcus Aurelius ΝΥϹΑΕΩΝ

Nysa-on-the-Maeander had a particular habit of advertising its cultural prestige on civic bronze — the city claimed to be the birthplace of Dionysus's nurse and leaned hard on that mythology throughout the imperial period. This piece falls in the first two years of Marcus Aurelius's sole reign, following the death of Antoninus Pius in March 161, when provincial mints across Asia Minor scrambled to update their coinage to the new emperor.

The Maeander valley cities often shared obverse dies or sourced engravers from the same regional workshops, and Nysan bronzes of this period show close stylistic ties to neighboring Tralles.