Æ24 - Severus Alexander ΕΦΕϹΙΩΝ Δ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Ephesus held the title of neokoros — temple warden — four times by the reign of Severus Alexander, a distinction fiercely contested among the great cities of Asia Minor and occasionally stripped by imperial decree as punishment for political disloyalty. The Δ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ legend on this piece was not ceremonial padding; it was a civic argument, struck in bronze and circulated as proof of standing within the Roman provincial hierarchy.