Æ26 - Severus Alexander ΜΗΤ Κ (Λ) ΕΔΕϹϹΗΝωΝ

Edessa occupied a uniquely awkward position under Roman rule — nominally a client kingdom until Caracalla abolished the Abgarid dynasty outright in 214 AD, just eight years before Severus Alexander's accession. The city's civic coinage under Alexander therefore reflects a municipality still recalibrating its identity, issuing bronzes under the title of metropolis (ΜΗΤ) that the newly reorganized colonia status demanded rather than earned through any traditional Roman process.

Mesopotamian provincial bronzes of this weight class are frequently found with heavy deposits from burial in alluvial soil — the Balikh River valley has produced the bulk of known examples.