Æ21 - Gordian III ϹΤΡ ΛΕΠΙΔΟΥ ΚΥΖΙΚΗΝΩΝ ΝΕΟ

Cyzicus held the rare distinction of being named a "neokoros" — an official temple warden of the imperial cult — multiple times over, a status cities competed for aggressively under the Severans and their successors. The legend ΝΕΟ on this issue almost certainly references that standing, which Cyzicus leveraged to mint civic bronze throughout Gordian III's reign while the emperor was occupied with the Gothic incursions and, ultimately, the Persian campaign that ended with his death on the Euphrates in 244.