Cyme, by the 3rd century AD, was a minor Aeolian city operating under the conventus of Smyrna — one of the administrative judicial districts Rome used to manage Asia Minor. The magistrate formula on this issue, naming a civic official responsible for the coinage, reflects the autonomy Rome extended to Greek cities in producing bronze for local exchange. Provincial bronzes of Gordian III's reign are extraordinarily numerous; he ruled long enough, and the empire's eastern cities active enough, that the series is dense with minor civic issues like this one.
Cyme, by the 3rd century AD, was a minor Aeolian city operating under the conventus of Smyrna — one of the administrative judicial districts Rome used to manage Asia Minor. The magistrate formula on this issue, naming a civic official responsible for the coinage, reflects the autonomy Rome extended to Greek cities in producing bronze for local exchange. Provincial bronzes of Gordian III's reign are extraordinarily numerous; he ruled long enough, and the empire's eastern cities active enough, that the series is dense with minor civic issues like this one.