Æ27 - Marcus Aurelius Τ Κ ΖΗΛΟϹ ΑΝΕΘ ΑΦΡΟΔΕΙϹΙΕΩΝ

Aphrodisias held an unusual position in the Roman provincial system — the city claimed divine founding by Aphrodite herself and leveraged that mythology into a series of concrete political privileges, including a formal grant of freedom and tax immunity confirmed under Augustus and reaffirmed by successive emperors. The inscription ΖΗΛΟϹ ΑΝΕΘ ΑΦΡΟΔΕΙϹΙΕΩΝ marks this as a dedicatory or honorific issue tied to civic benefaction, a zelos dedication typical of the competitive euergetism that drove much of the city's monumental building in the Antonine period.

The reign of Marcus Aurelius saw Aphrodisias particularly active in civic coinage, partly to signal loyalty during the early years of joint rule with Lucius Verus after 161.