Odessos — modern Varna on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast — retained the right to strike civic bronze under the Severan emperors, a privilege that continued even as the imperial court convulsed through the chaos of Elagabalus's four-year reign. The city's coinage from this period was purely local in function, facilitating small transactions in a port economy that had operated continuously since its founding as a Milesian colony in the 6th century BC.
The ethnic legend ΟΔΗϹϹΕΙΤΩΝ places this firmly within Odessos's own civic identity rather than any imperial framework.
Odessos — modern Varna on the Bulgarian Black Sea coast — retained the right to strike civic bronze under the Severan emperors, a privilege that continued even as the imperial court convulsed through the chaos of Elagabalus's four-year reign. The city's coinage from this period was purely local in function, facilitating small transactions in a port economy that had operated continuously since its founding as a Milesian colony in the 6th century BC.
The ethnic legend ΟΔΗϹϹΕΙΤΩΝ places this firmly within Odessos's own civic identity rather than any imperial framework.