Æ27 - Gallienus (sole reign) (ΗΡΑΚΛΕΩΤΑΝ ΜΑΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΑΝ ΠΡΩΤΑ ΠΟΝΤΟΥ, Ι)

Heraclea Pontica's civic coinage under Gallienus reflects the city's aggressive pursuit of the title *metropolis* and the honorific *prota Pontou* — "first of Pontus" — a rank fiercely contested among Black Sea cities during the third century. The legend spelling here, ΜΑΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΑΝ rather than the standard ΜΗΤΡΟΠΟΛΕΙΤΑΝ, is a regional orthographic quirk documented across Heraclean issues and not a die error.

Gallienus's sole reign began after Valerian's capture by Shapur I at Edessa in 260 AD, an unprecedented humiliation that triggered simultaneous breakaway regimes in Gaul and the East. Provincial mints like Heraclea continued striking bronze regardless, their civic series largely insulated from the dynastic chaos consuming the imperial coinage.