Æ20 - Trajan ΕΦΕ/ϹΙΩΝ

Ephesus held the title of metropolis of the province of Asia and regularly leveraged that status to produce civic bronze with unusual ambition. Under Trajan, the city's relationship with Rome was particularly active — he passed through the region during preparations for the Parthian campaign, and Ephesian civic issues from his reign reflect a municipality working hard to project its loyalty and administrative importance. The reference to the conventus, the Roman judicial circuit centered at Ephesus, underscores that this coinage circulated within a specifically Roman administrative framework rather than purely local exchange.