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Æ22 - Elagabalus ϹΑΜΙΩΝ

Issuer Samos (Conventus of Miletus)
Year 218-222
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Weight 4.58 g
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Obverse description Draped bust of Julia Soaemias facing right, rendered in the provincial style typical of Ionian mint workshops of the Severan period. The portrait shows the empress with an elaborately coiffed hairstyle and drapery visible at the shoulder. The Greek legend encircles the bust, reading ΙΟΥΛΙΑ ϹΟΑΙΜΙϹ ϹΕΒ, identifying her as Julia Soaemias Augusta. The flan is irregular and the surface bears a patinated green bronze consistent with prolonged burial.
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Mintage ND (218-222)
Additional information

Samos sat comfortably within the Milesian conventus, the administrative district through which Roman judicial and civic authority filtered down to Aegean island communities. Local bronze coinage of this kind was struck on civic initiative rather than imperial decree — the city essentially petitioned for the right to produce it, often tied to specific festivals, imperial visits, or benefactions. Elagabalus received unusually enthusiastic civic honors across the Greek East early in his reign, before the more scandalous reports from Rome had time to curdle local opinion.

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