Æ25 - Septimius Severus ΜΗΘΥΜΝΑΙΩΝ

Methymna, on the northern coast of Lesbos, was one of the island's five ancient city-states and retained enough civic pride under Roman rule to strike its own bronze for local exchange well into the Severan period. The conventus of Adramyteum, one of the judicial districts Augustus organized for the administration of Asia, grouped Lesbian cities with mainland communities across the Aegean — an administrative quirk that still puzzles scholars mapping provincial mint geography.

Bronze of this type rarely traveled far. Found almost exclusively in excavation contexts on Lesbos itself, these coins served hyper-local exchange and were not restruck or recalled when the series ended.