Æ23 - Severus Alexander ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ ΤΡΑΛΛΙΑΝΩΝ, ΠΥΘΙΑ

Tralles held neokorate status — the honorific right to maintain an imperial cult temple — and used festival coinage like this Pythian Games issue to advertise that status aggressively to the wider Roman world. The Pythia at Tralles was one of several provincial agonistic festivals claiming Apolline prestige, distinct from the panhellenic games at Delphi but deliberately invoking the same cultural authority. Cities competed fiercely for the right to strike such issues, and the neokorate title visible in the legend was a point of civic pride secured through costly embassies to Rome.