Æ23 - Nero HERCVLI AVGVSTO, C P

Patras was a Roman colony founded by Augustus himself, who settled veterans there after Actium and gave the city its formal colonial status — one of very few such foundations in Greece proper. The colony retained unusual autonomy in its local bronze coinage, which is why magistrate names appear on these issues at all. The C P abbreviation on this piece stands for Colonia Patrensis, the standard colonial identifier used consistently across Patrian bronzes throughout the Julio-Claudian period.

Nero's issues from Patras are notably scarcer than those of Claudius from the same mint.