Æ24 - Philip I ΙΕΡΑΠΟΛΕΙΤΩΝ

Hierapolis in Phrygia — not to be confused with the more famous Syrian city — sat on the thermal springs that made it a regional cult center of some commercial weight. Its civic bronze issues under Philip I reflect the broader mid-third-century pattern of provincial cities asserting local identity through coinage just as central Roman authority was fracturing under military pressure and the early chaos of the Crisis of the Third Century. Philip himself came to power by negotiating — or engineering — the death of Gordian III on campaign against Persia in 244.

Assignment to the Conventus of Cibyra places this coin within Lycia-Pamphylia's judicial district, where assize coinage served genuine administrative circulation needs.