Æ23 - Gordian III ΙΕΡΑϹ ΝΕΙΚΟΠΟΛΕΩϹ

Nicopolis ad Istrum — not the Actium foundation — was the issuing city here, a Trajanic foundation in Moesia Inferior whose civic coinage flourished precisely because it lay on a critical Danubian frontier route. Gordian III's reign saw the city mint heavily, partly because the young emperor's campaigns against the Carpi and Goths brought Roman military presence, and coin demand, directly into the region. The city's autonomy to strike bronze was curtailed entirely under Philip I, making Gordian III issues among the last of a long civic minting tradition.