Æ26 - Gallienus (sole reign) (ΑΙΖΑΝΕΙΤΩΝ)

Aezani, a Phrygian city in the conventus of Sardis, minted prolifically under Gallienus during his sole reign — the turbulent decade after his father Valerian was captured by Shapur I at the Battle of Edessa in 260 AD. Provincial bronze coinage surged across Asia Minor precisely because central Roman authority was fracturing; the breakaway Gallic Empire consumed the west while the east dealt with Persian incursions and the rising power of Palmyra. Local civic minting filled a real economic gap.

Aezani is best known archaeologically for its remarkably preserved Temple of Zeus, which also housed a grain market — unusual in the ancient world.