Æ25 - Severus Alexander ΚΙΑΝΩΝ

Cius, the Bithynian port city at the head of the Gulf of Astacus, enjoyed renewed civic prestige under Severus Alexander, who reversed many of the harsher administrative policies of his predecessor Elagabalus. Provincial bronze issues from Cius under this reign are relatively scarce — the city's output was never large, and its civic coinage essentially ceased shortly after the Severan dynasty collapsed in 235 AD. The reference VI#3074 places this within Varbanov's corpus, where Cian bronzes of this size occupy a narrow and sparsely populated section.