Æ24 - Septimius Severus ΗΡΑΚΛΗΑϹ ΕΝ ΠΟΝΤΩ

Heraclea Pontica had a complicated relationship with Rome through the Severan period — the city had been a free municipality since Pompey's reorganization of the Pontic region in 64 BC, and that autonomous status shaped how local magistrates chose to present imperial authority on civic bronze. The regional mint was not under direct Roman administrative control, which gave the city unusual latitude in how it commemorated emperors whose legitimacy was still being consolidated through civil war.

Septimius Severus only secured undisputed control after defeating Pescennius Niger at Issus in 194 AD, a battle fought less than 400 kilometers from Heraclea's sphere of commercial influence.