Æ23 - Severus Alexander ΜΗΤ ΚΟΛ ΕΔΕϹϹΗΝωΝ

Edessa occupied a uniquely awkward political position under Roman rule — nominally a client kingdom until Caracalla formally annexed it as a Roman colony in 214 AD, after which it gained the title Metropolis Colonia, reflected directly in the retrograde ethnic on this coin. The city's Syriac-speaking population and its long-standing ties to the Parthian world made it one of the more culturally ambiguous mints in the Roman east, and its colonial bronze issues under Severus Alexander are correspondingly scarce in the numismatic record.