Parium, a Propontine colony tracing its origins to Miletus and Erythrae, maintained an unusually active civic bronze coinage well into the third century — a period when most provincial mints across Asia Minor were winding down under economic strain. Gallienus's sole reign, following the capture of his father Valerian by the Sasanians at Edessa in 260, saw the emperor ruling an empire simultaneously fracturing into the Gallic and Palmyrene breakaway states. That Parium continued striking at all under these conditions reflects the city's stubborn civic pride more than any imperial directive.
Parium, a Propontine colony tracing its origins to Miletus and Erythrae, maintained an unusually active civic bronze coinage well into the third century — a period when most provincial mints across Asia Minor were winding down under economic strain. Gallienus's sole reign, following the capture of his father Valerian by the Sasanians at Edessa in 260, saw the emperor ruling an empire simultaneously fracturing into the Gallic and Palmyrene breakaway states. That Parium continued striking at all under these conditions reflects the city's stubborn civic pride more than any imperial directive.