Æ23 - Commodus DEO CVPIDINI COLON IVL H PAR

Parium, the Hadrianic-era Roman colony on the Propontis coast, retained unusual civic pride in its colonial status well into the Severan period — the COLON IVL H PAR legend referencing its Augustan-era refoundation as Colonia Iulia Hadriana Pariana. This piece was struck in the final, increasingly erratic year of Commodus's reign, when the emperor had begun insisting on identification with Hercules and demanding divine honors in Rome itself. Provincial bronzes from this period carry on largely undisturbed by the capital's theater.