Æ21 - Septimius Severus ΥΠΑΙΠΗΝΩΝ

Hypaepa was a minor Lydian city whose civic coinage under Septimius Severus reflects the broader explosion of Greek Imperial bronzes that flooded the eastern provinces during his reign — a direct consequence of Severus cultivating loyalty from Greek-speaking cities still nervous after the civil wars of 193. The city sat in the Cayster valley and held religious significance tied to the cult of Artemis Anaïtis, a syncretic deity blending Greek and Persian elements whose sanctuary drew visitors from across the conventus.

The Ephesian conventus administered assizes for dozens of such communities, and civic bronze remained the only coinage these cities controlled outright.