Æ19 - Valerian and Gallienus ΚΥΖΙΚΗΝΩΝ ΝΕΟΚΟ

Cyzicus held the title of neokoros — temple warden of the imperial cult — multiple times over its civic history, a distinction it competed for aggressively against rival cities in the Conventus. This provincial bronze was struck during the joint reign of Valerian I and Gallienus, a period when the empire was simultaneously fighting the Sassanids in the east and Germanic incursions across the Rhine and Danube. Valerian would be captured by Shapur I at Edessa in 260, the first Roman emperor taken prisoner in battle — ending the reign that authorized issues like this one.