Æ21 - Gordian III ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ ΑϹΤΡΑΙΟϹ

Metropolis in Ionia was a minor city that punched well above its weight in civic coinage during the third century, exploiting the relative autonomy Rome permitted to cities within the Ephesian conventus to mint bronze for local use. The epithet ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ on these civic issues asserts civic pride rather than administrative rank — Metropolis was never a provincial metropolis in the technical sense. ΑϹΤΡΑΙΟϹ, a local cult epithet of Zeus tied to the astral worship attested in Lydian and Ionian border regions, points to a religious tradition specific enough to distinguish Metropolis from neighboring minting cities.