Æ22 - Severus Alexander ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ

Metropolis in Ionia was a minor city that punched above its weight in civic coinage during the Severan period, leveraging its position within the Ephesian conventus to maintain a modest but consistent bronze output. The city's name — quite literally "mother city" — reflected an earlier colonial prestige that had largely faded by the third century, leaving civic pride to be expressed primarily through exactly this kind of local bronze issue rather than through any meaningful political or economic influence.