Æ19 - Septimius Severus ΜΙΛΗϹΙΩΝ

Miletus had been a shadow of its classical self for centuries by the time Severus took power, but the city retained enough civic pride — and enough administrative machinery — to strike bronzes acknowledging the new Trajanic dynasty's founder. Local bronze issues of this period were not imperial mandates; each city negotiated its own permission to strike, making even routine civic bronzes a deliberate act of political alignment. Miletus was signaling loyalty early, likely before the civil wars of 193–197 had even resolved.