Æ26 - Commodus ϹΤΡ ΑΙΛ ΚοΔΡΑΤοΥ ΜΑΓΝΗΤΩ ϹΙΠΥΛο

Magnesia ad Sipylum held an unusual civic pride rooted in mythology rather than history — the city claimed to be the site of Niobe's petrification, a local identity strong enough to survive centuries of Hellenistic and Roman overlordship. The magistrate name preserved in the legend, Aelius Quadratus, anchors this piece to a specific administrative moment in the early reign of Commodus, shortly after his accession following Marcus Aurelius's death in March 180.

Provincial bronzes from the Smyrna conventus were adjudicated through the assize system, meaning local issues required implicit Roman sanction while still serving purely regional circulation.