Tium was a minor coastal city on the Black Sea shore of Bithynia, historically overshadowed by its more prominent neighbors Heraclea and Amastris. The city's civic coinage under Antoninus Pius reflects the broader phenomenon of small Bithynian poleis leveraging the emperor's long and stable reign to assert local identity through bronze issues — Antoninus reigned 23 years without leaving Italy, yet his image circulated to the furthest edges of the provincial minting system.
The ethnic ΤΙΑΝΩΝ, identifying the citizens of Tium, is the city's primary claim on this piece.
Tium was a minor coastal city on the Black Sea shore of Bithynia, historically overshadowed by its more prominent neighbors Heraclea and Amastris. The city's civic coinage under Antoninus Pius reflects the broader phenomenon of small Bithynian poleis leveraging the emperor's long and stable reign to assert local identity through bronze issues — Antoninus reigned 23 years without leaving Italy, yet his image circulated to the furthest edges of the provincial minting system.
The ethnic ΤΙΑΝΩΝ, identifying the citizens of Tium, is the city's primary claim on this piece.