Æ20 - Marcus Aurelius ΦΩΚΑΙΕΩΝ

Phocaea's civic bronze coinage of this period falls within the early co-rule of Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, when the eastern provinces were simultaneously managing the administrative demands of the Parthian War and the first tremors of the Antonine Plague, which devastated Asia Minor's population through the late 160s. The city, long past its archaic glory as a major Ionian maritime power, maintained its right to strike autonomous civic bronze — a privilege the Roman administration selectively extended to loyal Greek cities in the Smyrna conventus.

The conventus system grouped cities for judicial and administrative purposes under a Roman proconsul based at Smyrna, not unlike a provincial circuit court. Phocaea's continued minting within this framework reflects municipal status rather than any exceptional favor.