Cyzicus, the dominant city of the Propontis, retained its civic coinage well into Gallienus's sole reign — a period when the Roman world was fracturing under the pressure of simultaneous usurpers, plague, and the Sassanid capture of Valerian in 260 AD. Provincial bronzes of this type were struck for local economic circulation while the imperial mint at Cyzicus itself was increasingly consumed by the demands of military coinage in silver and billon. The magistrate's name embedded in the obverse legend ties this piece to a specific municipal official whose tenure can sometimes be cross-referenced against inscriptional evidence from the region.
Cyzicus, the dominant city of the Propontis, retained its civic coinage well into Gallienus's sole reign — a period when the Roman world was fracturing under the pressure of simultaneous usurpers, plague, and the Sassanid capture of Valerian in 260 AD. Provincial bronzes of this type were struck for local economic circulation while the imperial mint at Cyzicus itself was increasingly consumed by the demands of military coinage in silver and billon. The magistrate's name embedded in the obverse legend ties this piece to a specific municipal official whose tenure can sometimes be cross-referenced against inscriptional evidence from the region.