Æ21 - Maximinus ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ Γ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Ephesus held the title of neokoros — official temple warden of the imperial cult — multiple times over, and the Γ (gamma, meaning "three times") designation on this issue reflects a hard-won status the city jealously defended against rival Smyrna and Pergamon throughout the Severan period. The third neokorate was granted under Elagabalus and remained a point of civic pride into the reign of Maximinus Thrax.

Maximinus never visited the eastern provinces. He spent his entire reign on campaign along the Rhine and Danube frontiers, making civic bronze issues like this one the only material connection most provincial subjects had to an emperor they would never see.