Æ27 - Valerian and Gallienus ΕФΕϹΙΩΝ Δ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ

Ephesus held the title of neokoros — temple warden — four times by the joint reign of Valerian and Gallienus, a distinction it had accumulated over roughly a century of competitive honorific politics among the cities of Asia Minor. The Δ ΝΕΩΚΟΡΩΝ legend on this issue is a direct assertion of that four-fold status, claimed through successive imperial cult temples and fiercely contested against rival cities like Smyrna and Pergamon, who sought the same honors from Rome.