Æ23 - Caracalla ΚΑΛΧΑΔΟΝΙΩΝ

Chalcedon occupied one of the most strategically valuable positions in the ancient world — the eastern shore of the Bosphorus directly opposite Byzantium — and yet the city consistently played second fiddle to its neighbor. When Septimius Severus besieged and punished Byzantium in 196 AD for backing his rival Pescennius Niger, Chalcedon had backed the winning side, and its civic coinage under Caracalla reflects a period of relative local stability and continued minting activity that Byzantium itself could not match in those years.