Æ23 - Caracalla ΕΠΙ ΚΡΗΤΑΡΙΟΥ ϹΜΥΡΝΑΙΩΝ

Smyrna's civic coinage under Caracalla reflects the city's aggressive courtship of imperial favor during this period — the magistrate name Κρητάριος (Kretarios) appearing in the legend places administrative accountability directly on the coin, a Greek East convention that Roman central mints never adopted. Smyrna was locked in a long civic rivalry with Ephesus and Pergamon over the title of "First City of Asia," and honorific bronze issues like this one were partly instruments of that competition, circulated locally to assert prestige rather than facilitate trade.