Æ23 - Gordian III ΦΛ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΕΩΝ ΝΕ (ΚΟΡΩΝ)

Philadelphia in Lydia — modern Alaşehir — was one of the last cities in Asia Minor to hold out against Christian conversion, retaining active pagan cult worship well into the late Roman period. The city's coins under Gordian III fall within a remarkably productive civic minting phase, issuing types across multiple magistracies simultaneously. The abbreviation ΝΕ in the legend denotes neokoros status, an honorific granted by Rome certifying the city as an official keeper of an imperial cult temple — a distinction Philadelphia fought hard to maintain against rival Lydian cities.