Æ24 - Septimius Severus ΕΠ ΙΟΥΛΙΑΝΟΥ ΑΠ ΦΙΛΑΔΕΛΦΕΩΝ

Philadelphia in Lydia — modern Alaşehir in western Turkey — was among the most loyal of the Greek cities to Rome, a loyalty dating to its founding by Attalid kings and reinforced through generations of imperial favor. The city's coins under Septimius Severus reflect the competitive civic honorifics of the Conventus of Sardis, where neighboring cities jostled for titles and minting privileges. The magistrate name ΕΠ ΙΟΥΛΙΑΝΟΥ identifies the issuing archon, a local official whose tenure under Severus placed him during one of the more turbulent succession periods in imperial history — Severus himself seized power after the chaos of 193 AD's Year of the Five Emperors.