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Æ24 - Elagabalus ϹΑΜΙΩΝ

Issuer Samos (Conventus of Miletus)
Year 218-222
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Weight 5.18 g
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Obverse script Greek
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Reverse description The river god Imbrasus, patron deity of the island of Samos, depicted in reclining pose facing left, his semi-nude figure rendered in the classical tradition of river deity iconography. He holds a reed stalk in one hand and a cornucopia in the other, symbols of the river's life-giving abundance. His elbow rests upon an overturned vase or urn from which water streams forth, representing the river's source. The ethnic legend ϹΑΜΙΩΝ is inscribed in the field, identifying the issuing civic authority. The reverse design reflects the strong local Samian religious and civic identity expressed through municipal bronze coinage of the Roman Imperial period.
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Samos spent much of the third century aggressively cultivating imperial favor through its civic coinage, and the reign of Elagabalus — however brief and chaotic in Rome — saw the island's mint active across multiple denomination classes. The conventus system meant Samos answered administratively to the proconsul at Miletus, but local magistrates retained meaningful control over bronze issue decisions, which accounts for the considerable variety in Samian types across this period.

The ethnic ϹΑΜΙΩΝ places this squarely within the island's own civic identity rather than a regional koinon issue.

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