Æ24 - Gordian III ΕΠΙ ΚΟΡ ΑΛΕΞΑΝΔΡΟΥ ΦΙΛΟΜΗΛΕωΝ

Philomelium, a Phrygian city with enough civic ambition to mint its own bronze under Gordian III, produced this issue under the magistrate Alexander — whose name appears in the inscription as eponymous authority. Provincial cities competed fiercely for the right to strike coinage, and the magistrate credit was both an honor and a civic responsibility. Gordian's reign saw a surge in Anatolian civic bronzes, partly because his campaigns against Shapur I disrupted eastern supply chains and kept Roman troops moving through Phrygia.