Æ24 - Philip I ϹΑΡΔΙΑΝΩΝ Β ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Sardis held the title of neokoros — official keeper of an imperial cult temple — twice by Philip's reign, a status cities competed for aggressively since it brought tax privileges, festival income, and prestige within the conventus system. The Β ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ designation on this issue was not decorative; it was a civic claim, struck in bronze partly to circulate that claim as widely as possible through the Lydian interior.