Æ26 - Philip I ΕΠΙ Γ ΙΟΥ ΠΟΝΤΙΚΟΥ ΑΡΧΙΕΡΕΩ ΚΟΤΙΑΕΩΝ

Cotiaeum, a Phrygian city on the road between Synnada and Dorylaeum, maintained active civic bronze production through the mid-third century, when many neighboring mints had already gone quiet. The magistrate named in this issue — Gaius Iulius Ponticus — held the office of archiereus, the chief priest of the imperial cult at the provincial level, a position that carried both religious authority and the practical privilege of authorizing local bronze coinage. His name appearing in the nominative formula on civic bronzes is the primary dating mechanism for this group.