Æ25 - Septimius Severus ΕΠ ΜΕΝΑΝΔΡ ΥΠΑΙΠΗΝΩΝ

Hypaepa was a minor Lydian city whose civic coinage depended almost entirely on the goodwill of the Roman governor administering the Ephesian conventus — the magistrate named in the obverse legend, Menander, held the title of strategos and effectively authorized this issue as an act of local civic prestige rather than monetary necessity. Provincial bronze of this type circulated hyperlocally, rarely traveling beyond the immediate region.