Æ22 - Gordian III ϹΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ Γ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Smyrna's claim to three neokorate titles — recorded in the civic legend on this issue — was hard-won and politically charged. The city lobbied aggressively for each grant of imperial cult status, and by Gordian III's reign the three-neokorate designation had become a point of civic pride exploited on coinage to assert Smyrna's precedence over rival cities like Ephesus and Pergamon in the conventus hierarchy. That competition was not merely ceremonial; it affected where governors held assizes and which cities collected the associated revenues.